Keeping the physical in physical volcanology

Abstract:

Many presentations at the 2000 and 2010 AGU sessions focused on the emerging roles of technology in volcano science, e.g., instrumentation, computation, remote sensing, and data connectivity in research, forecasting, and hazard/risk mitigation. While these continue to inspire revolutionary advances, a future based on technology alone neglects something essential: old-fashioned field observations of volcanic deposits and eruptions that require physically being there. Fundamental hypotheses on the dynamics of volcanic processes are rooted in observations of deposits, especially for eruption types that occur infrequently on human time scales, such as ignimbrite-producing events and the formation of new monogenetic volcanoes and associated lava fields. For example, pyroclastic-current concepts were, and continue to be, strongly influenced by the sedimentological characteristics of surge deposits and ignimbrites. Modeling and experimental tools are only now tackling some of the questions raised by fieldworkers in the 1970s and 80s, such as origins of proximal and intracaldera ignimbrite facies and the effects of caldera subsidence on eruption dynamics. New observations at old sites, informed by observations at active eruptions over the past 40 years, are yielding insights that will drive model development. Similarly, primary field observations of lava flow morphology and effusive eruption dynamics established our fundamental understanding of the major controls on lava emplacement. Remote sensing, experimental and modeling approaches are now helping to refine and apply these concepts toward quantitative hazard assessment. The integration of these new approaches with field observations inspires the next generation of scientific questions and lays the groundwork for tackling them. New technologies are also revolutionizing field geology itself, with the introduction of GPS-enabled mobile apps for GIS and stratigraphy that can provide real-time integration of geospatial and sample data with field observations. In the next decade of volcano science, we must preserve the role of basic field observations and train early-career scientists in the sometimes tedious and challenging, but always rewarding, art of detailed, quantitative observations of volcanic deposits and eruptions.