Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-6bf8c574d5-9f2xs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-03-09T17:27:58.510Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 5 - Lava flows

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2013

By
Andrew J. L. Harris
Edited by
Sarah A. Fagents ,
Tracy K. P. Gregg  and
Rosaly M. C. Lopes
Sarah A. Fagents
Affiliation:
University of Hawaii, Manoa
Tracy K. P. Gregg
Affiliation:
State University of New York, Buffalo
Rosaly M. C. Lopes
Affiliation:
NASA-Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California
Get access

Summary

Overview

There are many types of lava flow emplacement models. One type of numeric model aims to apply and link equations that describe lava flow cooling rates, rheology, and dynamics to simulate lava flow spreading. Generally applied to basaltic lava flow emplacement, it is this type of model that we consider here. Within this model type, we can define two simulation sub-types: volume- and cooling-limited. By applying and linking laws governing the ability of a Bingham fluid to spread under the influence of gravity, both volume- and cooling-limited simulations spread control volumes across a digital topography. Volume-limited approaches spread and thin a finite erupted volume until a sheet with a critical thickness defined by the lava yield strength is attained. For a cooling-limited model, heat losses due to radiation, convection, and conduction are estimated to calculate core cooling and crystallization rates. These can be used to estimate the rheological properties (viscosity, yield strength) of the lava. Rheological properties can be used to estimate flow thickness through a yield strength model, as well as velocity using the Jeffreys or Navier–Stokes equations. Such flow simulation models rely, in turn, on well-constrained models that define and link lava flow heat loss, cooling rates, crystallinity, rheology, velocity, and thickness.

Lava flows and lava flow models

Following the classic lava channel morphological model of Lipman and Banks (1987), an active lava flow system can be split into two principal components: a feeder system, which is either a channel or tube, and a zone of dispersed lava flow supplied by the feeder system. Within this system, a range of lava types, defined by their characteristic surface morphologies (including ˈaˈa, pahoehoe, transitional, blocky, and inflationary), can build a range of flow field architectures spanning simple, single-unit lava flows to compound lava flow fields comprising hundreds to hundreds of thousands of individual lava flow units (e.g., Walker, 1972; Kilburn and Lopes, 1988; Mattox et al., 1993).

Type
Chapter
Information
Modeling Volcanic Processes
The Physics and Mathematics of Volcanism
 , pp. 85 - 106
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bailey, J. E., Harris, A. J. L, Dehn, J., Calvari, S. and Rowland, S. K. (2006). The changing morphology of an open lava channel on Mt. Etna. Bulletin of Volcanology, 68, 497–515.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balmforth, N., Craster, R., Rust, A. and Sassi, R. (2006). Viscoplastic flow over an inclined surface. Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics, 139, 103–127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barca, D., Crisci, G. M., di Gregorio, S. and Nicoletta, F. (1993). Cellular automata methods for modeling lava flows: simulation of the 1986–1987 eruption, Mount Etna, Sicily. In Active Lavas, ed. Kilburn, C. R. J. and Luongo, G.. London: UCL Press, pp. 291–309.Google Scholar
Blake, S. (1990). Viscoplastic models of lava domes. In Lava Flows and Domes, ed. Fink, J. H.. New York: Springer, pp. 88–128.Google Scholar
Blake, S. and Bruno, B. (2000). Modelling the emplacement of compound lava flows, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 184, 181–197.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bottinga, Y. and Weill, D. F. (1972). The viscosity of magmatic silicate liquids: a model for calculation. American Journal of Science, 272, 438–475.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calvari, S. and Pinkerton, H. (1998). Formation of lava tubes and extensive flow field during the 1991–1993 eruption of Mount Etna. Journal of Geophysical Research, 103(B11), 27 291–27 301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chester, D. K., Duncan, A. M., Guest, J. E. and Kilburn, C. R. J. (1985). Mount Etna: The Anatomy of a Volcano. London: Chapman and Hall, pp. 187–228.Google Scholar
Crisci, G. M., di Gregorio, S., Pindaro, O. and Ramieri, G. (1986). Lava flow simulation by a discrete cellular model: First implementation. International Journal of Modeling and Simulations, 6, 137–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crisci, G., Rongo, R., Gregorio, S. and Spataro, W. (2004). The simulation model SCIARA: the 1991 and 2001 lava flows at Mount Etna. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 132, 253–267.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crisp, J. and Baloga, S. (1990). A model for lava flows with two thermal components. Journal of Geophysical Research, 95(B2), 1255–1270.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crisp, J. and Baloga, S. (1994). Influence of crystallization and entrainment of cooler material on the emplacement of basaltic aa lava flows. Journal of Geophysical Research, 99(B6), 11 819–11 831.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crisp, J., Cashman, K. V., Bonini, J. A., Hougen, S. B. and Pieri, D. C. (1994). Crystallization history of the 1984 Mauna Loa lava flow. Journal of Geophysical Research, 99(B4), 7177–7198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daneš, Z. (1972). Dynamics of lava flows. Journal of Geophysical Research, 77, 1430–1432.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Del Negro, C., Fortuna, L. and Vicari, A. (2005). Modelling lava flows by Cellular Nonlinear Networks (CNN): preliminary results. Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics, 12, 505–513.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dragoni, M. (1989). A dynamical model of lava flows cooling by radiation. Bulletin of Volcanology, 51, 88–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dragoni, M. and Tallarico, A. (1996). A model for the opening of ephemeral vents in a stationary lava flow. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 74, 39–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dragoni, M., Bonafede, M. and Boschi, E. (1986). Downslope flow models of a Bingham liquid: Implications for lava flows. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 30, 305–325.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fagents, S. A. and Greeley, R. (2001). Factors influencing lava-substrate heat transfer and implications for thermomechanical erosion. Bulletin of Volcanology, 62, 519–532.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fairfield, J. and Leymarie, P. (1991). Drainage networks from grid digital elevation models. Water Resources Research, 27(5), 709–717.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Favalli, M. and Pareschi, T. (2004). Digital elevation model construction from structured topographic data: The DEST algorithm. Journal of Geophysical Research, 109, F04004, doi:.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Favalli, M., Pareschi, M., Neri, A. and Isola, I. (2005). Forecasting lava flow paths by a stochastic approach. Geophysical Research Letters, 32, L03305, doi:.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Finch, R. H. and Macdonald, G. A. (1950). The June 1950 eruption of Mauna Loa Part I: Narrative of the eruption. Volcano Letter, 508, 1–12.Google Scholar
Fink, J. and Griffiths, R. (1992). A laboratory analog study of the surface morphology of lava flows extruded from point and line sources. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 54, 19–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Furbish, D. J. (1997). Fluid Physics in Geology. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Getson, J. M. and Whittington, A. G. (2007). Liquid and magma viscosity in the anorthite-forsterite-diopside-quartz system and implications for the viscosity-temperature paths of cooling magmas. Journal of Geophysical Research, 112, B10203, doi:.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giordano, D. and Dingwell, D. B. (2003). Viscosity of hydrous Etna basalt: implications for Plinian-syle basaltic eruptions. Bulletin of Volcanology, 65, 8–14.Google Scholar
Giordano, D., Mangiacapra, A., Potuzak, M. et al. (2006). An expanded non-Arrhenian model for silicate melt viscosity: A treatment for metaluminous, peraluminous and peralkaline liquids. Chemical Geology, 229, 42–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gregory, K. J. and Walling, D. E. (1973). Drainage Basin Form and Process. London: Edward Arnold.Google Scholar
Guest, J. E. and Murray, J. B. (1979). An analysis of hazard from Mount Etna volcano. Journal of the Geological Society of London, 136, 347–354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, A. J. L. and AllenIII, J. S. (2008). One-, two- and three-phase viscosity treatments for basaltic lava flows. Journal of Geophysical Research, 113, B09212, doi:.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harris, A. and Rowland, S. (2001). FLOWGO: a kinematic thermo-rheological model for lava flowing in a channel. Bulletin of Volcanology, 63, 20–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, A. J. L. and Rowland, S. K. (2009). Effusion rate controls on lava flow length and the role of heat loss: A review. In Studies in Volcanology: The Legacy of George Walker, ed. Thordarson, T., Self, S., Larsen, G., Rowland, S. K. and Hoskuldsson, A., Special Publications of IAVCEI, 2, 33–51.Google Scholar
Harris, A., Bailey, J., Calvari, S. and Dehn, J. (2005). Heat loss measured at a lava channel and its implications for down-channel cooling and rheology. Geological Society of America Special Paper 396, 125–146.Google Scholar
Hess, K.-U. and Dingwell, D. B. (1996). Viscosities of hydrous leucogranitic melts: A non-Arrhenian model. American Minerologist, 81, 1297–1300.Google Scholar
Hidaka, M., Umino, S. and Fujita, E. (2005). VTFS project: Development of the lava flow simulation code LavaSIM with a model for three-dimensional convection, spreading, and solidification. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 6, Q07008, doi:.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holman, J. P. (1992). Heat Transfer. London: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Hon, K., Kauahikaua, J., Denlinger, R. and Mackay, K. (1994). Emplacement and inflation of pahoehoe sheet flows: Observations and measurements of active lava flows on Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 106, 351–370.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hulme, G. (1974). The interpretation of lava flow morphology. Geophysical Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, 39, 361–383.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hutchinson, M. F. (1989). A new procedure for gridding elevation and stream line data with automatic removal of spurious pits. Journal of Hydrology, 106, 211–232.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ishihara, K., Iguchi, M. and Kamo, K. (1990). Numerical simulation of lava flows on some volcanoes in Japan. In Lava Flows and Domes, ed. Fink, J.. Berlin: Springer, pp. 184–207.Google Scholar
Iverson, R. M. (1990). Lava domes modeled as brittle shells that enclose pressurized magma, with application to Mount St. Helens. In Lava Flows and Domes, ed. Fink, J.. Berlin: Springer, pp. 48–69.Google Scholar
Jeffreys, H. (1925). The flow of water in an inclined channel of rectangular section. Philosophical Magazine, 49, 793–807.Google Scholar
Jones, R. (2002). Algorithms for using a DEM for mapping catchment areas of stream sediment samples. Computers and Geosciences, 28, 1051–1060.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kauahikaua, J., Margriter, S., Lockwood, J. and Trusdell, F. (1995). Applications of GIS to the estimation of lava flow hazards on Mauna Loa Volcano, Hawai’i. In Mauna Loa Revealed: Structure, Composition, History and Hazards, ed. Rhodes, J. M. and Lockwood, J. P., American Geophysical Union, Geophysical Monograph 92, pp. 315–325.CrossRef
Kerr, R. (2001). Thermal erosion by laminar lava flows. Journal of Geophysical Research, 106(B11), 26 453–26 465.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keszthelyi, L. (1995). A preliminary thermal budget for lava tubes on the Earth and planets. Journal of Geophysical Research, 100(B10), 20 411–20 420.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keszthelyi, L. and Denlinger, R. (1996). The initial cooling of pahoehoe flow lobes. Bulletin of Volcanology, 58, 5–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keszthelyi, L. and Self, S. (1998). Some physical requirements for the emplacement of long basaltic lava flows. Journal of Geophysical Research, 103(B11), 27447–27464.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keszthelyi, L., Harris, A. and Dehn, J. (2003). Observations of the effect of wind on the cooling of active lava flows. Geophysical Research Letters, 30(19), doi:.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kilburn, C. R. J. and Lopes, R. M. C. (1988). The growth of aa lava fields on Mount Etna, Sicily. Journal of Geophysical Research, 93, 14759–14772.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kilburn, C. R. J., Pinkerton, H. and Wilson, L. (1995). Forecasting the behaviour of lava flows. In Monitoring Active Volcanoes, ed. McGuire, W., Kilburn, C. R. J. and Murray, J. B.. London: UCL Press, pp. 346–368.Google Scholar
Larson, R. G. (1999). The Structure and Rheology of Complex Fluids. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Llewellin, E. W. and Manga, M. (2005). Bubble suspension rheology and implications for conduit flow. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 143, 205–217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lipman, P. W. and Banks, N. G. (1987). Aa flow dynamics, Mauna Loa. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, 1350, 1527–1567.Google Scholar
Manga, M., Castro, J., Cashman, K. V. and Loewenberg, M. (1998). Rheology of bubble-bearing magmas. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 87, 15–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mano, J. F. and Pereira, E. (2004). Data analysis with the Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann-Hesse equation. Journal of Physical Chemistry, 108, 10824–10833.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mark, D. M. (1984). Automated detection of drainage networks from digital elevation models. Cartographica, 21, 168–178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marsh, B. D. (1981). On the crystallinity, probability of occurrence, and rheology of lava and magma. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, 78, 85–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martz, L. W. and Garbrecht, J. (1998). The treatment of flat areas and depressions in automated drainage analysis of raster digital elevation models. Hydrological Processes, 12, 843–855.3.0.CO;2-R>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mattox, T. N., Heliker, C., Kauahikaua, J. and Hon, K. (1993). Development of the 1990 Kalapana flow field, Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii. Bulletin of Volcanology, 55, 407–413CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mei, C. and Yuhi, M. (2001). Slow flow of a Bingham fluid in a shallow channel of finite width. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 431, 135–159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miyamoto, H. and Sasaki, S. (1997). Simulation of lava flows by an improved cellular automata method. Computers and Geosciences, 23, 283–292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, H. J. (1987). Preliminary estimates of the rheological properties of 1984 Mauna Loa lava. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, 1350, 1569–1588.Google Scholar
Navier, C. L. M. H. (1823). Mémoire sur les lois du mouvement des fluids. Memoirs of the Academy Royale Paris, 6, 389–416.Google Scholar
Neri, A. (1998). A local heat transfer analysis of lava cooling in the atmosphere: application to thermal diffusion-dominated lava flows. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 81, 215–243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Callaghan, J. F. and Mark, D. M. (1984) The extraction of drainage networks from digital elevation data. Computer Vision, Graphics and Image Processing, 28, 323–344.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peterson, D. W., Holcomb, R. T., Tilling, R. I. and Christiansen, R. L. (1994). Development of lava tubes in the light of observations at Mauna Ulu, Kilauea volcano, Hawaii. Bulletin of Volcanology, 56, 343–360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phan-Thien, N. and Pham, D. C. (1997). Differential multiphase models for polydispersed suspensions and particulate solids. Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics, 72, 305–318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pinkerton, H. and Sparks, R. S. J. (1978). Field measurements of the rheology of lava. Nature, 276, 383–385.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pinkerton, H. and Stevenson, R. J. (1992). Methods of determining the rheological properties of magmas at sub-liquidus temperatures. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 53, 47–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quareni, F., Tallarico, A. and Dragoni, M. (2004). Modeling of the steady-state temperature field in lava flow levees. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 132, 241–251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rowland, S., Garbeil, H. and Harris, A. (2005). Lengths and hazards from channel-fed lava flows on Mauna Loa, Hawai’i, determined from thermal and downslope modeling with FLOWGO. Bulletin of Volcanology, 67, 634–647.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russell, J. K., Giordano, D. and Dingwell, D. B. (2003). High-temperature limits on viscosity of non-Arrhenian silicate melts. American Minerologist, 88, 1390–1394.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryerson, F. J., Weed, H. C. and Piwinskii, A. J. (1988). Rheology of subliquidus magmas 1. Picritic compositions. Journal of Geophysical Research, 93(B4), 3421–3436.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shaw, H. R. (1972). Viscosities of magmatic silicate liquids: an empirical method of prediction. American Journal of Science, 272, 870–893.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sonder, I., Zimanowski, B. and Buttner, R. (2006). Non-Newtonian viscosity of basaltic magma. Geophysical Research Letters, 33, L02303, doi:.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stevens, N. F., Wadge, G. and Murray, J. B. (1999). Lava flow volume and morphology from digitised contour maps: a case study at Mount Etna, Sicily. Geomorphology, 28, 251–261.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stokes, G. G. (1845). On the theories of internal friction of fluids in motion. Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, 8, 287–305.Google Scholar
Tarboton, D. G. (1997). A new method for the determination of flow determinations and upslope areas in grid digital elevation models. Water Resources Research, 33(2), 309–319.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tedesco, D., Badiali, L., Boschi, E. et al. (2007). Cooperation of Congo volcanic and environmental risks. Eos, Transactions of the American Geophysical Union, 88(16), 177–181.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tribe, A. (1992). Automated recognition of valley lines and drainage networks from grid digital elevation models: a review and a new method. Journal of Hydrology, 139, 263–293.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turcotte, D. L. and Schubert, G. (2002). Geodynamics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 456 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turcotte, R., Fortin, J.-P., Rousseau, A. N., Massicotte, S. and Villeneuve, J.-P. (2001). Determination of the drainage structure of a watershed using a digital elevation model and a digital river and lake network. Journal of Hydrology, 240, 225–242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vicari, A., Herault, A., del Negro, C. et al. (2007). Modeling of the 2001 lava flow at Etna volcano by a Cellular Automata approach. Environmental Modelling and Software, 22, 1464–1471.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, G. P. L. (1967). Thickness and viscosity of Etnean lavas. Nature, 213, 484–485.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, G. P. L. (1972). Compound and simple lava flows and flood basalts. Bulletin of Volcanology, 35, 579–590.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, F. M. (2006). Viscous Fluid Flow. New York: McGraw-Hill, 629 pp.Google Scholar
Whittington, A., Richet, P. and Holtz, F. (2000). Water and the viscosity of depolymerized aluminosilicate melts. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 64(21), 3725–3736.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, R. and Flynn, L. P. (2003). On the retrieval of lava-flow surface temperatures from infrared satellite data. Geology, 31(10), 893–896.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, P. and Wadge, G. (1990). FLOWFRONT: Simulation of a lava flow. Computers and Geosciences, 16, 1171–1191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×