Teaching about volcanoes: Practices, perceptions, and implications for professional development

Volcanology education is important for the development of geoscientists and scientifically literate citizens. We surveyed 55 volcanology instructors to determine their learning and teaching practices, perceptions of academic development, and educational support needs. Instructors reported using a wide range of practices and tools, but lectures, field experiences, maps, rock samples, academic literature, and inherited teaching materials are the most common. Instructors valued educational support from others (e.g., talking with colleagues and students, consulting with learning and teaching specialists) over conducting their own investigations. However, they did not report engaging in as many of these activities as they valued. Instructors requested more support in resource sharing and collation, conference workshops, and co-creation of resources and educational research. We suggest that instructors and academic development staff work together to share and build knowledge in the learning and teaching of volcanology in higher education, and to improve student learning outcomes.

Rapid response petrology for the opening eruptive phase of the 2021 Cumbre Vieja eruption, La Palma, Canary Islands

How and why magmatic systems reactivate and evolve is a critical question for monitoring and hazard mitigation efforts during initial response and ongoing volcanic crisis management. Here we report the first integrated petrological results and interpretation provided to monitoring authorities during the ongoing eruption of Cumbre Vieja, La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain. The first eruptive products comprised simultaneous Strombolian fountain-fed lava flows and tephra fall from near-continuous eruption plumes. From combined field, petrographic and geochemical analyses conducted in the 10 days following sample collection, we infer low percentage mantle melts with a variably equilibrated multimineralic crystal-cargo and compositional fractionation by winnowing during eruptive processes. Hence ‘rapid response’ petrology can untangle complex magmatic and volcanic processes for this eruption, which combined with further study and methodological improvement can increasingly assist in active decision making.

Agriculture and forestry impact assessment for tephra fall hazard: fragility function development and New Zealand scenario application

Developing approaches to assess the impact of tephra fall to agricultural and forestry systems is essential for informing effective disaster risk management strategies. Fragility functions are commonly used as the vulnerability model within a loss assessment framework and represent the relationship between a given hazard intensity measure (e.g., tephra thickness) and the probability of impacts occurring. Impacts are represented here using an impact state (IS), which categorises qualitative and quantitative statements into a numeric scale. This study presents IS schemes for pastoral, horticultural, and forestry systems, and a suite of fragility functions estimating the probability of each IS occurring for 13 sub-sectors. Temporal vulnerability is accounted for by a ‘seasonality coefficient,’ and a ‘chemical toxicity coefficient’ is included to incorporate the increased vulnerability of pastoral farming systems when tephra is high in fluoride. The fragility functions are then used to demonstrate a deterministic impact assessment with current New Zealand exposure.

Modelling eruptive event sources in distributed volcanic fields

Vent opening hazard models are routinely used as inputs for assessing distal volcanic hazards (lava flows, tephra fallout) in distributed volcanic fields. These vent opening hazard models have traditionally relied on the location of mapped vents; seldom have they taken into account how vents are linked in space and time. We show that inputs needed to appropriately model distal hazards are fundamentally different than thoses required to model near-vent hazards (ground deformation). We provide a computational model to obtain more appropriate eruptive source parameters (ESPs) for distal volcanic hazard sources and show the utility of our code through three examples. The code's strength is that it links events based on the spatio-temporal relationships of vents through heirarchical clustering. The development of the code and its strenghts and weaknesses are discussed. This work challenges previous ideas about ESPs and we hope this work leads to further improvement in hazard assessment methods.

Reviewing volcano hazard and risk communications in Ecuador: experiences from a fast-format workshop

Hazard and risk communication requires the design and dissemination of clear messages that enhance people’s actions before, during, and after volcanic crises. To create effective messages, the communication components such as message format and content, must be considered. Changes in technology are changing the way people communicate at an ever-increasing pace; thus, we propose revising the basic components of the communication process to improve the dialogue between scientists and the public. We describe communication issues during and outside volcanic crises in Ecuador and assess possible causes and consequences. These ideas were discussed during the short-duration “Volcano Geophysical Principles and Hazards Communications” Workshop in Baños, Ecuador in 2019. We review and propose communication strategies for volcanic hazards and risks that resulted from the workshop discussions and experiences of experts from the Instituto Geofísico (IG-EPN), local and international professors involved in volcano research and communication, and students from universities across Ecuador.

Simultaneous effusive and explosive cinder cone eruptions at Veniaminof Volcano, Alaska

Historical eruptions of Veniaminof Volcano, Alaska have all occurred at a 300-m-high cinder cone within the icefilled caldera that characterizes the volcano. At least six of nineteen historical eruptions involved simultaneous explosive and effusive activity from separate vents. Eruptions in 1944, 1983–1984, 1993–1994, 2013, 2018 and 2021 included periods of explosive ash-producing Strombolian activity from summit vents and simultaneous nonexplosive effusion of lava from flank vents on either the southern or northeast sides of the cone. A T-junction conduit network is proposed to explain the simultaneous eruptive styles and as a mechanism for gas-magma segregation that must occur to produce the observed activity. Historical eruptions with simultaneous summit and flank activity produced slightly higher rising ash clouds compared to historical eruptions where simultaneous activity did not occur. This could be a consequence of the partitioning of more gas-charged magma into the vertical conduit of a T-junction conduit system.

Calculating the cohesion and internal friction angle of volcanic rocks and rock masses

Rock failure criteria are key input parameters for models designed to better understand the stability of volcanic rock masses. Cohesion and friction angle are the two defining material variables for the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion. Although these can be determined from laboratory deformation experiments, they are rarely reported. Tabulated data for volcanic rocks, calculated using published triaxial results, show that cohesion and friction angle decrease with increasing porosity. If porosity is known, these empirical fits can provide laboratory-scale cohesion and friction angle estimations. We present a method to upscale these parameters using the generalised Hoek-Brown failure criterion, discuss the considerations and assumptions associated with the upscaling, and provide recommendations for potential end-users. A spreadsheet is provided so that modellers can (1) estimate cohesion and friction angle and (2) upscale these values for use in large-scale volcano modelling. Better constrained input parameters will increase the accuracy of large-scale volcano stability models.

Hybrid rhyolitic eruption at Big Glass Mountain, CA, USA

Eruptive dynamics of the 1060 CE rhyolitic eruption of Big Glass Mountain (BGM), USA, are investigated with field observations, hydrogen isotope and H2O content analysis of pyroclastic obsidian chips and lavas. Field relations at BGM reveal evidence for hybrid eruption, defined as synchronous explosive venting and effusive emplacement of vast obsidian lava flows. This activity is particularly well manifested by extensive breccia zones implanted within the BGM obsidian lavas, which may represent rafted tephra cones, in addition to remnants of airfall tephra on the lava. Rhyolitic obsidians collected from a 2.5-m-thick fall deposit and co-eruptive lava flow were studied by FTIR and TCEA methods to elucidate the eruption’s degassing history. The data, along with VolcDeGas program simulations, demonstrate a correlation between H2O content and H-isotopic composition (δD) that likely reflects ever-increasing amounts of volatile loss via repetitive close-system steps, best described as batched degassing.

Volcano monitoring and hazard assessments in Chile

Volcanism in Chile occurs in a variety of tectonic settings but mostly in the context of oceanic-continental plate collision, including 92 potentially active volcanoes. There have been more than 30 documented eruptions in the last few centuries. The Servicio Nacional de Geología y Minería (SERNAGEOMIN) is a statutory agency of the Government of Chile responsible for volcano monitoring and hazard assessments across the country. After the impacts derived from volcanic activity at the end of the 20th century, SERNAGEOMIN created the Volcano Hazards Program and the Observatorio Volcanológico de Los Andes del Sur (OVDAS). Despite this effort, most volcanoes in Chile remained unmonitored. In 2008, the aftermath of the eruption of Chaitén led to a nationwide program in order to improve eruption forecasting, development of early warning capabilities and our state of readiness for volcanic impacts through hazard assessments. In the last decade responses to volcanic crises have been indubitably successful providing technical advice before and during volcanic eruptions. El volcanismo en Chile ocurre en una amplia variedad de regímenes tectónicos, aunque principalmente en el contexto de la colisión de placas. Alrededor de 92 volcanes son considerados potencialmente activos y más de 30 presentan actividad histórica documentada en los últimos siglos. El Servicio Nacional de Geología y Minería (SERNAGEOMIN) es la agencia gubernamental responsable de la evaluación de peligros y monitoreo de la actividad volcánica en el país. Como consecuencia de los impactos derivados de las erupciones volcánicas ocurridas hacia finales del siglo pasado, SERNAGEOMIN creó el Programa de Riesgo Volcánico y el Observatorio Volcanológico de los Andes del Sur (OVDAS). No obstante, a pesar de este esfuerzo la mayoría de los volcanes en Chile se mantenían sin monitoreo. Luego de los impactos derivados de la erupción del volcán Chaitén en 2008, un nuevo programa nacional fue creado con el fin de fortalecer la vigilancia y la evaluación de los peligros volcánicos en el país. En la última década, la respuesta a crisis volcánicas ha sido exitosa, proporcionando apoyo técnico en forma previa y durante erupciones.

Volcano observatories and monitoring activities in Guatemala

The tectonic and volcanic environment in Guatemala is large and complex. Three major tectonic plates constantly interacting with each other, and a volcanic arc that extends from east to west in the southern part of the country, demand special attention in terms of monitoring and scientific studies. The Instituto Nacional de Sismología, Vulcanología, Meteorología e Hidrología (INSIVUMEH) is the institute in charge of executing these actions at the national and civil level.In recent years, INSIVUMEH has formed a volcanology team consisting of multi-disciplinary personnel that conducts the main volcanological monitoring and research activities. These activities include: seismic and acoustic signal analysis, evaluation and analysis of the volcanic hazards, installation and maintenance of monitoring equipment, and the socialization and dissemination of volcanic knowledge. Of all the volcanic structures in Guatemala, three volcanoes (Fuego, Pacaya, and Santiaguito) are in constant eruption and require all of the available resources (economic and human). These volcanoes present a wide range of volcanic hazards (regarding type and magnitude) that make daily monitoring a great challenge. One of the greatest goals achieved by the volcanology team has been the recent development of a Relative Threat Ranking of Guatemala Volcanoes, taking into account different parameters that allow improved planning in the future, both in monitoring and research. El ambiente tectónico y volcánico de Guatemala es extenso y complejo. Tres grandes placas tectónicas, que interactúan constantemente entre sí, y un arco volcánico, que se extiende de este a oeste en la parte sur del país, exigen especial atención en términos de monitoreo y estudios científicos. El Instituto Nacional de Sismología, Vulcanología, Meteorología e Hidrología (INSIVUMEH) es el instituto encargado de ejecutar estas acciones a nivel nacional y civil. En los últimos años, INSIVUMEH ha formado un equipo de vulcanología conformado por personal multidisciplinario que realiza las principales actividades de seguimiento e investigación vulcanológica. Estas actividades incluyen: análisis de señales sísmicas y acústicas, evaluación y análisis de peligros volcánicos, instalación y mantenimiento de equipos de monitoreo, y socialización y difusión del conocimiento volcánico. De todas las estructuras volcánicas de Guatemala, tres volcanes (Fuego, Pacaya y Santiaguito) están en constante erupción y requieren todos los recursos disponibles (económicos y humanos). Estos volcanes presentan una amplia gama de peligros volcánicos (en cuanto a tipo y magnitud), haciendo que el monitoreo diario sea un gran desafío. Uno de los mayores logros del equipo de vulcanología ha sido el desarrollo reciente de un Ranking de Peligrosidad Relativa de los Volcanes de Guatemala, tomando en cuenta diferentes parámetros que permitan una mejor planificación en el futuro, tanto en el monitoreo como en la investigación.