Idiosyncrasies of Volcanic Sulfur Viscosity and the Triggering of Unheralded Volcanic Eruptions

Frontiers in Digital Humanities

Scolamacchia, Teresa¹  Cronin, Shane J.² 

[1] Independent Researcher, Munich, Germany;School of Environment, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

关键词: sulfur viscosity;    impure sulfur;    Explosive eruptions;    geothermal systems;    volcanic lakes;   

DOI  :  10.3389/feart.2016.00024

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Unheralded “blue-sky” eruptions from dormant volcanoes cause serious fatalities, such as at Mt. Ontake (Japan) on 27 September 2014. Could these events result from magmatic gas being trapped within hydrothermal system aquifers by elemental sulfur (Se) clogging pores, due to sharp increases in its viscosity when heated above 159oC? This mechanism was thought to prime unheralded eruptions at Mt. Ruapehu in New Zealand. Impurities in sulfur (As, Te, Se) are known to modify S-viscosity and industry experiments showed that organic compounds, H2S, and halogens dramatically influence Se viscosity under typical hydrothermal heating/cooling rates and temperature thresholds. However, the effects of complex sulfur compositions are currently ignored at volcanoes, despite its near ubiquity in long-lived volcano-hydrothermal systems. Models of impure S behavior must be urgently formulated to detect pre-eruptive warning signs before the next “blue-sky” eruption.

【 授权许可】

CC BY