USGS/Cascades Volcano Observatory, Vancouver, Washington
REPORT:
Post-eruption hydrology and sediment transport in volcanic river systems
--
Major, J.J., 2003,
Post-eruption hydrology and sediment transport in volcanic river systems:
Water Resources IMPACT, v.5, no.3, p.10-15.
Introduction
Explosive volcanic eruptions are a type of landscape
disturbance that can profoundly alter river system hydrology
and sediment transport. Explosive eruptions can
damage, destroy, bury, or obliterate vegetation, and cover
vast tracts of landscape with centimeters to tens of centimeters
of gravelly to silty sediment known as tephra or
volcanic ash. They can also fill river valleys with great
quantities of gravelly sand (Figure 1), which can obliterate
watershed divides, disrupt drainage patterns, or modify
channel size, shape, pattern, and structure. Such
landscape disturbances affect runoff, erosion, and flow
routing, and cause accelerated landscape adjustments
that greatly affect sediment transport and deposition
(e.g., Waldron, 1967; Kadomura et al., 1983; Janda et al.,
1984; Punongbayan et al., 1996; Major et al., 2000;
Hayes et al., 2002; Manville, 2002). Hydrologic, sedimentologic,
and geomorphic responses to major explosive
eruptions can be dramatic, widespread, and persistent,
and present enormous challenges to those entrusted with
managing disturbance response. Here I provide a brief
overview of hydrologic and geomorphic impacts of explosive
eruptions on volcanic river systems, provide exam-ples
of system responses, and highlight a few strategies
that have been used to manage post-eruption sediment
transport.
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08/28/03, Lyn Topinka