Abstract
Lava dome collapses are a major threat to the population living near such volcanoes. However, it is not possible to forecast collapses reliably because the mechanisms are not clearly understood, due partly to the lack of continuous observations of such events. To address this need for field data, we have developed new monitoring stations, which are adapted to the volcanic environment. The stations tracked the complete evolution of the 2018–2019 lava dome of Merapi volcano (Indonesia) and the associated pyroclastic density currents. During the 14 months of activity, the stations acquired thermal, high-resolution visual images and movies in stereoscopic configurations. The dome developed on a plateau flanked by steep sides (~ 40°–50°) inside the crater, which was open to the SE. We observed that the dome behaved in a viscous manner (with a viscosity of 109 Pa s for the interior to 1013 Pa s for external parts of the dome) on gentle slopes, and in a brittle way (friction angle ~ 35°, cohesion < 100 kPa) on slopes steeper than 35°. Thus, the lava dome was unable to grow on the outer slopes of the plateau and a significant volume of lava (350–750 × 103 m3) accumulated and collapsed daily to the SE in relatively small volumes (< 10,000 m3), preventing the lava dome from reaching the critical volume necessary for pyroclastic density currents to form and threaten the surrounding population. The cause of the small and frequent collapses was purely gravitational during the dome activity. This suggests that relatively small differences in the summit morphology can control dome evolution, favouring either a lava dome restricted to a small volume and leading to only a minor crisis, or more voluminous dome growth and a catastrophic collapse.
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02 February 2021
Affiliation 4 of the paper should be: Université de Paris, Institut de physique du globe de Paris, CNRS, Paris, France (and not "Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, CNRS, Université de Paris, Paris, France").
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Acknowledgements
The digital cameras are controlled remotely with the software gphoto2 (http://www.gphoto.org/). The camera orientations were calculated from the star positions with the software Stellarium (https://stellarium.org/fr/). The manuscript was improved by the relevant comments of two anonymous reviewers and of the Associate Editor, M. R. James.
Funding
The development of the stations was funded by the Domerapi ANR (French Agence Nationale de la Recherche) Project (ANR-12-BS06-0012), the Observatoire de Physique du Globe de Clermont-Ferrand and the LabEx ClerVolc (publication number 435). The field installations and maintenance were funded by the IRD (Institut de Recherche pour de Développement), the project Domerapi, the LabEx ClerVolc, the Merapi Observatory (BPPTKG/CVGHM) and the Instrumented Site VELI (IRD).
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Editorial responsibility: M.R. James; Deputy Executive Editor: J. Tadeucci
Supplementary information
ESM 1
Movie of the complete growth of the 2018–2019 lava dome of Merapi volcano (Indonesia) from thermal images of Somerapi1. (AVI 128935 kb)
ESM 2
Movie of the complete growth of the 2018–2019 lava dome of Merapi volcano (Indonesia) from visible images. (AVI 229259 kb)
ESM 3
Additional photographs of the lava dome and the monitoring stations (PDF 4504 kb)
ESM 4
Movie of the last weeks of the lava dome growth using anaglyphs calculated from the stereoscopic images of Somerapi1 and 3 (use blue and red glasses to see the relief). (AVI 55385 kb)
ESM 5
Code used with the software Matlab. (1) ESM5a_viscous_profile_3D.m shows how the viscous profiles are calculated to relate the effusion rate to the surface velocities. (2) ESM5b_VolcFlow_phase1_Fig7a and ESM5c_VolcFlow_phase2_Fig7b were used for Fig. 7. They must be used with Matlab and VolcFlow. Download VolcFlow here (http://lmv.univ-bpclermont.fr/volcflow/), run VolcFlow in the command window of Matlab and load the input files. See ESM5_files_description.pdf for files description. (PDF 418 kb)
ESM 6
Weather data of Pasar Bubar station (mm/hour), close to the summit. The data cover the whole dome emplacement. No correlation has been identify between rainfalls and collapses. (TXT 197 kb)
ESM 7
Details of the calculation of the cohesion of the lava dome and of the effusion rate estimation from the measurements of the surface velocities. (PDF 227 kb)
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Kelfoun, K., Santoso, A.B., Latchimy, T. et al. Growth and collapse of the 2018–2019 lava dome of Merapi volcano. Bull Volcanol 83, 8 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-020-01428-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-020-01428-x