The transport and emplacement mechanisms of the highly energetic pyroclastic density current (PDC) generated in the blast style eruption of Soufriere Hills Volcano, Montserrat, on 26 December 1997 are examined through detailed lithological mapping and sedimentological analysis of the deposits. The PDC formed deposits which range in grain size from coarse breccias to fine ash, with distinctive bipartite layering and well-developed grading and stratification. On a large scale the PDC was highly erosive, sculpting large bedforms and depositing relatively thin deposits. However, locally, centimetre scale topographic protuberances were responsible for significant variations in deposit thickness, grain size, and the development of dune bedforms. The strong lateral and vertical lithofacies variations are attributed to well-developed density stratification, which formed during explosive expansion of the dome prior to PDC formation. Experimental modelling of stratified inertial gravity currents was carried out to investigate the effects of density stratification prior to release of the current. The degree of stratification governs the rate of mixing in the current, which in turn influences the velocity. Well·stratified currents initially move faster than homogenous currents but are slower in the latter stages of current propagation. The results have important implications for deposition from particle-laden flows, which may become stratified with coarser material concentrated at the base of the current. The role of PDCs jn the formation of unit US2-B, emplaced during the Upper Scoriae 2 eruption (79± 8 ka) on Santorini, Greece, was investigated through sedimentological analysis and mapping. Proximally, the unit exhibits features characteristic of emplacement from a flow, such as thickening into palaeochannels and erosive basal contacts. Distally, the unit is of uniform thickness and grain size parameters suggest the deposit is more characteristic of exnplacement from a fallout mechanism. Discrete lenses of fine-grained material within US2-B, and a gradational upper contact with PDC deposits suggest that there may have been contemporaneous deposition resulting the development of a hybrid deposit.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:427593 |
| Date | January 2001 |
| Creators | Ritchie, Lucy Jane |
| Publisher | University of Bedfordshire |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://hdl.handle.net/10547/595146 |
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