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Volcanic Natural Dams Associated with Sector Collapses: Textural and Sedimentological Constraints on Their Stability

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Natural and Artificial Rockslide Dams

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences ((LNEARTH,volume 133))

Abstract

The collapse of a volcanic edifice can enhance several secondary effects, including the formation of one or more natural dams. Their duration depends on the volume of the obstructing mass and on its textural characteristics. A block facies of a debris avalanche produces “durable” dams, whereas a mixed facies is easily eroded after overflowing. Analysis of the sedimentological characteristics of different volcaniclastic deposits that formed natural dams indicates that low sorting and coarse grain-size (but significant clay content) can promote a longer duration of a natural dam. It appear that a –1 phi mean grain-size represents the limit between volcanic natural dams, which last just few days (Md >–1 phi) from those lasting more that 1 year or are still existing (Md <–1 phi). By considering the relation between M/G (M: matrix, G: gravel) and S+C/C (S: silt; C: clay) it seems that for a M/G lower than 1, there is an inverse relation between mud content and dam duration. For dams formed exclusively of fine material (phi less than –1, with comparable fine fraction), the stability decreases as matrix content increases.

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Acknowledegments

I would like to acknowledge all the organizing committee of the NATO advanced workshop on “Security Of Natural And Artificial Rockslide Dams” who gave me this great opportunity for an incredible scientific experience. José Luis Macías and Duncan Keppie provided useful suggestions that improved this manuscript. All ASTER images were acquired form glovis.usgs.gov web site.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Geociencias, UNAM, Queretaro, México

    Lucia Capra

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  1. Lucia Capra
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Correspondence to Lucia Capra .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Earth & Environmental Sciences, Landslide Research Program, University of Waterloo, University Avenue W. 200, Waterloo, N2L 3G1, Ontario, Canada

    Stephen G. Evans

  2. Dept. Geophysics, Geological Survey of Norway, Trondheim, 7491, Norway

    Reginald L. Hermanns

  3. Institute of the Geospheres Dynamics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninskiy Avenue 38, Moscow, 119334, Russian Federation

    Alexander Strom

  4. Dipto. Scienze della Terra, Università Roma, La Sapienza, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, Roma, 00185, Italy

    Gabriele Scarascia-Mugnozza

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Capra, L. (2011). Volcanic Natural Dams Associated with Sector Collapses: Textural and Sedimentological Constraints on Their Stability. In: Evans, S., Hermanns, R., Strom, A., Scarascia-Mugnozza, G. (eds) Natural and Artificial Rockslide Dams. Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences, vol 133. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-04764-0_9

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