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Dynamics and tephra dispersal of Violent Strombolian eruptions at Vesuvius: insights from field data, wind reconstruction and numerical simulation of the 1906 event

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Abstract

Mt. Vesuvius is one of the most studied volcanoes in the world and its proximity to an extremely populated area makes it also one of the most threatening. Violent Strombolian (VS) events have occurred in the most recent history of the volcano, and they are the type most likely to occur in case of reactivation of the volcano in the near future. In order to investigate the dynamics and hazard of this type of eruption, we performed new field and laboratory work and numerical simulations of plume dynamics, fallout and tephra dispersal associated with such eruptions. Attention was specifically focused on the 1906 eruption, a recent and well-studied VS event. Based on new field analyses and historical observations, we reconstructed the temporal evolution of eruption source conditions during the event. The reconstructed explosive phase of the eruption is inferred to have been 8 days long and characterized by two distinct stages: a former short and intense period with sustained convective plume fed by powerful lava fountains (20 h) followed by a prolonged and less intense period of ash emission (172 h). The total grain-size distributions for both phases, used as inputs to the model, were obtained by field work and laboratory analyses. Based on these new volcanological data and reconstruction of wind field direction and intensity, partially derived from historical sources, the 1906 event was numerically simulated and results compared to deposit distributions. The modelling outcomes for the ash emission phase provide a better agreement with the measured tephra mass load for a simulation run in which ash aggregation (described by the models of Cornell et al. J Volcanol Geotherm Res 17:89–109, 1983, and Biass et al. Nat Hazard Earth Syst Sci 14:2265–2287, 2014) is specifically taken into account, confirming the importance of this process during tephra dispersal. The aggregation model that best fits the simulated results to the measured ground loadings has 80 % of particles Φ ≥ 4 that aggregate uniformly in the range Φ = −1 to 3. Two additional simulations of a VS event were carried out by using meteorological data of two specific periods to exemplify weather’s potential on impacts of such eruptions, particularly tephra loading, on the surrounding areas. The model outcomes clearly highlight the major effects of differences in local meteorology on plume dynamics and ash dispersal and the key role of wind shear in determining the cumulative thickness of ground deposits. Results also show that, due to the long duration of this kind of eruption and the large variability in zonal winds at this latitude, ash dispersal and fallout from VS events at Vesuvius represent a probable hazard for all of the territory near Vesuvius, including the city of Naples, where cumulative tephra loadings might reach critical thresholds for roof collapse and infrastructure damage.

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Acknowledgments

This work was partially developed during the project “V1 - Stima della pericolosità vulcanica in termini probabilistici” funded by the Dipartimento della Protezione Civile (Italy). The manuscript does not necessarily represent DPC official opinion and policies. We thank Fabrizio Alfano for his help in analysing the sample granulometry. We are also grateful to two anonymous referees and to the associate editor C. Bonadonna, for several suggestions that significantly improved the manuscript.

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Author notes

  1. S. Barsotti

    Present address: Icelandic Meteorological Office, Reykjavik, Iceland

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione di Pisa, Pisa, Italy

    S. Barsotti, A. Neri & A. Bertagnini

  2. Dip.to di Scienze della Terra, Università di Firenze, Firenze, Italy

    R. Cioni

  3. Facultad de Ciencias Matematicas y Fisicas, Universidad de Guayaquil, Guayaquil, Ecuador

    M. Mulas

  4. Dip.to di Scienze Chimiche e Geologiche, Università di Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy

    F. Mundula

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  1. S. Barsotti
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Correspondence to S. Barsotti.

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Editorial responsibility: C. Bonadonna

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

ESM 1

(DOCX 39 kb).

ESM 2

The calculated TGSDs for the two lapilli beds are compared with others calculated for other eruptions in the world: the mafic subplinian eruption of Izu-Oshima (Mannen, 2006), the 1973 Strombolian eruption of Heimay (Iceland; Self et al., 1974), the lava fountain activity at Etna during 2002-2003 and 2007 (Andronico et al., 2008 a, b), the 1968 and 1971 Cerro Negro (Rose et al., 1973) and the 1974 Fuego (Rose et al., 1978) events. (JPEG 301 kb).

High resolution image (EPS 474 kb)

ESM 3

Wind speed dependence with direction and altitude in the Vesuvian area. The data come from the Re-analysis archive from ECMWF for the period 1991–2000. (GIF 148 kb).

High resolution image (EPS 9.75 mb)

ESM 4

The modeled column height is plotted together with some height estimates deduced from chronicles and literature. In the figure the simulated mean height over the duration of each phase (black line) and the standard deviation (yellow area), which reflect column temporal variations mainly due to atmospheric corrections introduced by the CALMET processor, are shown. As a reference, we also added to the figure the observations available from the literature. (GIF 42 kb).

High resolution image (EPS 9.75 mb)

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Barsotti, S., Neri, A., Bertagnini, A. et al. Dynamics and tephra dispersal of Violent Strombolian eruptions at Vesuvius: insights from field data, wind reconstruction and numerical simulation of the 1906 event. Bull Volcanol 77, 58 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-015-0939-6

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