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Potential Hazards of Eruptions around the Tianchi Caldera Lake, China
Author(s) -
Haiquan WEI,
Hanjing HONG,
SPARKS R.S.J.,
WALDER J.S.,
Bin HAN
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
acta geologica sinica ‐ english edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.444
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1755-6724
pISSN - 1000-9515
DOI - 10.1111/j.1755-6724.2004.tb00197.x
Subject(s) - tephra , caldera , geology , volcano , lahar , seiche , magma , explosive eruption , geochemistry , volcanic hazards , debris , crater lake , pyroclastic rock , earth science , seismology , geomorphology , oceanography
Since the eruption of the Tianchi volcano about 1000 years ago, there have been at least 3 to 5 eruptions of small to moderate size. In addition, hazardous avalanches, rock falls and debris flows have occurred during periods between eruptions. A future eruption of the Tianchi volcano is likely to involve explosive interaction between magma and the caldera lake. The volume of erupted magma is almost in a range of 0.1–0.5 km 3 . Tephra fallout may damage agriculture in a large area near the volcano. If only 1% of the lake water were ejected during an eruption and then precipitated over an area of 200 km 2 , the average rainfall would be 100 mm. Moreover, lahars are likely to occur as both tephra and water ejected from the caldera lake fall onto flanks of the volcano. Rocks avalanching into the caldera lake also would bring about grave hazards because seiches would be triggered and lake water with the volume equal to that of the landslide would spill out of the existing breach in the caldera and cause flooding downstream.