Numerical simulation of the December 1997 Debris Avalanche in Montserrat, Lesser Antilles

Pyroclastic Flow from Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat: Solid Block Model

“…As for the basal friction angle, usually it is considered to be equal to 17˚ -30˚ for the sand-textured debris [24] and 20˚ -40˚ for the granular debris avalanche [30]. Previously the debris avalanche from Caribbean volcanoes was actively modeled [24,30,31] and appropriative basal friction angle was suggested to be rather small (5˚ < δ < 8˚ for Mt Pelée, Martinique and 13˚ < δ < 35˚ for the Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat).…”

“…The solid block model has been widely used [19][20][21][22] for rough estimations of landslide characteristics. Real and potential explosions of the Soufriere Hills Volcano were modeled using different models, see [7,[23][24][25].…”

Aplicación de modelos numéricos de "aguas someras" para el análisis de peligros de flujos volcánicos: El caso de Titan2D y volcán Turrialba (Costa Rica)

“…γ is a dimensionless parameter empirically related to the mean grain diameter (Pouliquen, 1999). Recent studies by Heinrich et al (2001) on Montserrat and Le Friant et al (2006) on Montagne Pelée (Martinique) have shown that the emplacement of debris avalanches can be well-modeled by a Coulomb-type behavior law with a variable apparent basal friction angle using this relationship. Moreover, this approach seems to merge in some respects the two different classes of models proposed in the literature for dense volcanic flows, either frictional or thickness-dependent models.…”

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“…However, up to now it is generally unclear what factors control the timing of large flank failures, how such failures evolve, and what are the emplacement mechanisms of the debris avalanches associated with these collapses (Voight, 2000;Voight and Elsworth, 1997). For example, understanding whether significant substrate erosion occurs during such processes is crucial for determining the mobility of debris avalanche and for including realistic parameters in numerical simulations of flow processes (Heinrich et al, 2001;Le Friant 2003b;Kelfoun and Druitt, 2005). Deplus et al (2001) proposed that submarine debris avalanches in the Lesser Antilles erode significantly into underlying sedimentary layers, incorporating large amounts of marine sediment as well as disturbing the underlying stratigraphy.…”