Slopes, lava flow volumes, and vent distributions on Volcán Fernandina, Galápagos Islands

Abstract

Digital elevation data from TOPSAR, an airborne synthetic aperture radar system that uses interferometry to derive topography, are used to determine slope distributions and lava flow thicknesses on Fernandina Volcano, Galápagos Islands. Four extracaldera slope regions are defined (from the coast inland): A coastal plain (average slope ∼2°), an apron (6°–12°), steep slopes 250–600 m high (20°–43°), and a 0.5‐ to 1‐km‐wide summit platform (∼10°). Lava flows and vents are mapped using Shuttle Imaging Radar‐C (SIR‐C), SPOT, Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM), and air photos. Over 500 flows are identified and categorized as young, intermediate, or old based on albedo, vegetation cover, and margin preservation. By area, young flows constitute 55% of the island, 34% are intermediate, and 7% are old. The aa:pahoehoe ratio of the young flows is 85:15, whereas for the intermediate flows it is 58:42. Of the 423 vents that were classified, 236 are radial and 80% of these are in the apron, 143 are arcuate and 94% of these are in the summit platform, and 46 have transitional orientations and are about equally divided between the steep slopes and summit platform; 95% of all vents are within 13 km of the caldera center. TOPSAR data allow flow volumes to be estimated, and young flows range from <0.01 to 0.12 km3, with a total volume of 2.3 km3. By volume, 91% of the young lava erupted from radial vents below the steep slopes, many of which are concentrated within the SE apron about 5–6 km from the caldera. Similar concentrations to the NE, NW, and SW consist of young and intermediate flows. Different proportions of lava flows and vents form the different slope regions; the coastal plain averages 0.1 vents/km2 and the slightly steeper apron averages 0.6 to 0.9 vents/km2, increasing inland. The summit platform averages 4.7 vents/km2, and this concentration supports previously proposed mechanisms for producing higher elevations and steeper slopes in the central part of the volcano. Temporal changes in the plumbing system and/or magma supply, rate are suggested by the change in aa:pahoehoe ratio; it appears that in the past, low effusion rate eruptions were more common (perhaps from a filled caldera), whereas more recently, high effusion rate eruptions have dominated.