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Physical Modeling of Eruptive Phenomena: Lahars

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Monitoring and Mitigation of Volcano Hazards

Abstract

Mudflows and debris flows of volcanic origin (lahars) occur frequently during and following volcanic eruptions, because the volcanoes provide an abundant source of loose fine-grained rock debris, steep slopes, and a source of water (from rain, ice/snow melting, crater lakes, etc.). The devastation along drainage channels leading from a volcano can be enormous. The effort to cope with the effects of lahars is one of the main reasons for investigating debris-flow behavior more thoroughly. This paper reviews contributions of lahar modeling and numerical simulation. Models range from simple rheological laws to complex multiphase approaches, which, although at present not applicable to natural debris flows for the limited ranges of applicability, show however great promise for future developments. The common approach is to use one- or two-dimensional dynamic equations similar to those used for clear-water flow. The differences are reflected in the dissimilar form of energy-lost terms and in the presence of additional continuity equations for sediments to deal with erosion/deposition effects. Such models predict the order of magnitudo of discharges, velocities, flow depths, etc., as results by comparing model results with available data on past events. The reproducibility of phenomena involves the possibility of a quantitative assessment of hazard. Papers presenting lahar simulations and hazard assessments based on this approach are examined.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro Di Studio Per la Geologia Strutturale e Dinamica dell ’Appennino, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Universit’ di Pisa, 56126, Pisa, Italy

    M. T. Pareschi

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  1. M. T. Pareschi
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© 1996 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Pareschi, M.T. (1996). Physical Modeling of Eruptive Phenomena: Lahars. In: Monitoring and Mitigation of Volcano Hazards. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-80087-0_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-80087-0_14

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-80089-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-80087-0

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