Morphometric and morphological development of Holocene cinder cones: A field and remote sensing study in the Tolbachik volcanic field, Kamchatka

Abstract

The evolution of landscape over time is a central aspect of geological, paleogeographical and geomorphological studies. Volcanic features like cinder cones offer the opportunity to monitor the processes and development of the landscape. Cinder cones are perhaps the simplest and most common volcanic landforms in the world. Morphological and morphometric study of cinder cones has proven an efficient tool for determining their relative dates, and the erosional processes affecting them. The extensive Kamchatka volcanic province (Russian Far East), with its large Tolbachik cinder cone field, is an excellent case study for spatial and temporal classification and calibration of changes in morphometric values with time. We show how the morphological and morphometric values of the monogenetic cinder cones, measured in the field and by digital elevation models, can be used to validate their age and erosional processes. Field data were GPS measurements of cinder cones formed at the Tolbachik 1975-1976 eruption and of Holocene cinder cones; erosion processes on the cinder cones and lava flows were identified and evaluated. For every studied cinder cone morphometric parameters were assessed on the basis of remotely sensed data and digital elevation model. Morphometric measurements were taken of cone height and slope and average axis diameter and the height-width ratio was obtained. The comparison of morphometric parameters calculated from ASTER DEM and topographic map clearly supports the concept of relative morphometric dating as the most recent cinder cones are always associated with the highest slopes and h/W ratio. The measured morphometric values of the recent Tolbachik cinder cones are valuable benchmark data for determining erosion rates, such as the measured values for the Paricutin cone in Mexico after the 1943 eruption. The variability of the morphometric values of the recent cinder cones is due to their lithological coarse composition. A comparison with the older cinder cones in the area shows that the climatic conditions of the Kamchatka peninsula and the slow development of vegetation cover determine a high rate of erosion and rapid change in the morphometric values, as compared to published values for other volcanic fields.

Monogenetic volcanism: personal views and discussion

“…Similar distributions of eruptive volumes are found in Abu volcanic field in Japan (Kiyosugi et al 2010) and Bakony-Balaton Highland in Hungary (Kereszturi et al 2011). Eruptive volumes are orders of magnitude larger in the volcanic fields located along the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, such as in the Jorullo area or Parícutin (Vespermann et al 2000;Pioli et al 2008;Inbar et al 2011). In the Jorullo area, the same eruptive volume range of ≤0.05 km 3 includes about 10 % of the total volcano population ).…”

The Al-Du’aythah volcanic cones, Al-Madinah City: implications for volcanic hazards in northern Harrat Rahat, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

“…Although trends in cone erosion have been linked to relative age (e.g. Porter 1973;Settle 1979;Wood 1980a, b;Hooper and Sheridan 1998;Doniz et al 2008;Inbar et al 2011;Fornaciai et al 2012), recent studies have shown that, especially in cases when cones are dominated by fountain-fed spatter eruptions, cone erosion and cone geometry modification are more commonly related to eruptive history or substrate morphology than to time since eruption (Favalli et al 2009;Németh et al 2011;Kereszturi et al 2012;Kereszturi and Németh 2012a). In this respect, we can only say that the inferred 641 AD cones are young, and likely Holocene in age, but it is not possible to better constrain their age using cone morphometry.…”

Geomorphometric variability of “monogenetic” volcanic cones: Evidence from Mauna Kea, Lanzarote and experimental cones

“…gully density), to assess the relative age of scoria cones. Several studies suggested a measurable decrease over time in the H co /W co ratio and in maximum cone slope (Scott and Trask, 1971;Wood, 1980b;Dohrenwend et al, 1986;Hooper and Sheridan, 1998;Inbar et al, 2011). Some of these also argued for a decrease (Dohrenwend et al, 1986;Hooper and Sheridan, 1998) or increase (Inbar and Risso, 2001) in W cr /W co with cone aging but an extensive previous study found no evidence for such a decrease (Wood, 1980b).…”