Investigating the causal mechanisms of lava dome collapse is imperative in understanding the dynamic processes that occur during active lava dome growth. We present a worldwide database and provide an assessment of dome collapse across a diverse range of volcanoes in the Global Archive of Dome Instabilities (GLADIS). We identify the most common mechanisms that cause collapse to be: increased gravitational loading; bouts of intense rainfall; internal gas overpressures; thrust forces associated with a changing extrusion direction; and the relative size of a dome with respect to its underlying topography. We use statistical analysis to test if absolute collapse volume and relative collapse volume (collapse as a proportion of original dome volume) are dependent on extrusion rate, dome growth style and collapse mechanism. We find no link between extrusion rate and collapse magnitude. We find that collapse mechanism influences collapse magnitude, particularly in collapses attributed to gravitational loading and topography. We also find that endogenous dome growth is likely to lead to large relative collapses, whereas exogenous domes are prone to smaller relative collapses. We intend for these relationships to be used to inform numerical modelling efforts in future work, with the ultimate aim of developing forecasting methods for lava dome collapse.

We note that the downloadable data here is a snapshot of the database, and does not necessarily include all information. For further data, or for information on any of the existing data, please contact the corresponding author at eeceh@leeds.ac.uk.

Further reading:

Harnett et al. (2018). Presentation and analysis of a worldwide database of lava dome collapse events: the Global Archive of Dome Instabilities (GLADIS). Submitted.

1. collapse
2. database
3. lava dome
4. Lava dome stability