Week 4 -Volcano

This week I will be exploring the Augustine Volcano in Alaska. It has been noted that this volcano is the most active volcano of the eastern Aleutian arc. Reports say that in 1883 there was a devastating volcano that erupted because large parts of the summit dome complex collapsed. It took several centuries for the volcano's height to restore. It has also been noted that eruptions after this eruption have been explosive. These explosions have produced something called pyroclastic pumice flows and block-and-ash flows, this was followed by regrowth of the lava domes.

According to Britannica, pyroclastic pumice flows are a "fluidized mixture of hot rock fragments, hot gases, and entrapped air that moves at high speed in thick, gray-to-black, turbulent clouds that hug the ground. This is evidence that was left after a number of explosions that this volcano produced.

This volcano is considered to be a stratovolcano which means that this volcano was built up of alternate layers of lava and ash. In terms of the hazards associated with this volcano one should look at hazards formed by ash clouds and ashfall. According to research, these volcanos are distrubuted under Pacific great circle aircraft routes and can erupt ash clouds into commercial and recreational and recreational airspace. Mixing ash and aircrafts could cause an aicrafts engine to fail leading to fatalities of aircraftmen and women. Ash fallout which is a product of eruptions can lead to problems with infrastructure and can also lead to what is called a respiratory hazard.


Source: https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/alaska/augustine.html
https://www.britannica.com/science/pyroclastic-flow#ref884244
https://avo.alaska.edu/volcanoes/hazards.php