Sedimentation of long-lasting wind-affected volcanic plumes: the example of the 2011 rhyolitic Cordón Caulle eruption, Chile

Abstract

Sedimentation processes and fragmentation mechanisms during explosive volcanic eruptions can be constrained based on detailed analysis of grain-size variations of tephra deposits with distance from vent and total grain-size distribution (TGSD). Grain-size studies strongly rely on deposit exposure and, in case of long-lasting eruptions, can be complicated by the intricate interplay between eruptive style, atmospheric conditions, particle accumulation, and deposit erosion. The 2011 Cordón Caulle eruption, Chile, represents an ideals laboratory for the study of long-lasting eruptions thanks to the good deposit accessibility in medial to distal area. All layers analyzed are mostly characterized by bimodal grain-size distributions, with both the modes and the fraction of the coarse subpopulation decreasing rapidly with distance from vent and those of the fine subpopulation being mostly stable. Due to gradually changing wind direction, the two subpopulations characterizing the deposit of the first 2 days of the eruption are asymmetrically distributed with respect to the dispersal axis. The TGSD of the climactic phase is also bimodal, with the coarse subpopulation representing 90 wt% of the whole distribution. Polymodality of individual samples is related to size-selective sedimentation processes, while polymodality of the TGSD is mostly related to the complex internal texture (e.g., size and shape of vesicles) of the most abundant juvenile clasts. The most representative TGSD could be derived based on a combination of the Voronoi tessellation with a detailed analysis of the thinning trend of individual size categories. Finally, preferential breakage of coarse pumices on ground impact was inferred from the study of particle terminal velocity.