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- Title
Sulfur Impurities: The Overlooked Process in Volcanic Hazard Assessment.
- Authors
Scolamacchia, Teresa
- Abstract
One of the most intriguing questions of modern volcanology is the inception of an eruption. Despite efforts to detect premonitory signals, numerous unpredicted eruptions have occurred recently. It has been suggested that these unpredicted eruptions might be explained by viscosity variations in elemental sulfur accumulated within the hydrothermal systems present in several volcanic settings under the influence of organics, hydrocarbons, hydrogen sulfide, halogens, and ammonia. Changes in impure sulfur viscosity are more complex than those in pure S, invoked decades ago to trigger eruptions by system sealing in volcanoes hosting a crater lake. Growing evidence suggests that sulfur accumulation is a common process, not restricted to crater lakes. Moreover, both types and amounts of gas species released at the surface, critical for volcano monitoring, would be altered, following chemical reactions involving impure S, invalidating signals used to issue alerts. Impure sulfur behavior may explain puzzling degassing and contrasting signals reported at volcanoes and restless calderas worldwide, with implications for hazard assessment and volcanic-risk-mitigation strategies.
- Subjects
VOLCANIC hazard analysis; SULFUR; CRATER lakes; VOLCANIC craters; VOLCANIC eruptions; VOLCANOLOGY
- Publication
Geosciences (2076-3263), 2024, Vol 14, Issue 4, p97
- ISSN
2076-3263
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.3390/geosciences14040097