Publications

A program of temperature studies of the eruptive products of Mount St. Helens was established May 20, 1980, 2 days after the catastrophic eruption of May 18. Temperature-depth profiles were measured by thermocouple to determine the emplacement temperatures of deposits of the debris avalanche and blast of May 18 and of deposits of the pyroclastic flows of May 18, May 25, June 12, July 22...

No abstract available.

Earthquake swarms are pervasive at volcanoes, but have seldom been studied systematically. Most swarms that are described in the literature are those that occurred in association with eruptions; indeed, earthquake swarms are the most reliable method of forecasting eruptions. For the purpose of this report, a swarm is defined as many earthquakes of the same size occurring in a small...

The U.S. Geological Survey's Cascades Volcano Observatory (CVO) has been testing low-cost, low-power Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers for use in the monitoring of restless volcanoes. Field tests of two single-frequency (L1 only) receivers, the Ashtech SCA-12S and the Leica SR261 show that these units can measure positions precisely enough to meet our monitoring needs. For line...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is a party to joint interagency Memorandum of Understandings (MOUs) with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM) to coordinate resource assessments and evaluations of BLM administered lands. Resource assessments of BLM Resource Areas, that are conducted by the USGS under these MOUs, assist the BLM in meeting inventory and...

During 1993, the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) responded to episodes of eruptive activity or false alarms at nine volcanic centers in the state of Alaska. Additionally, as part of a formal role in KVERT (the Kamchatkan Volcano Eruption Response Team), AVO staff also responded to eruptions on the Kamchatka Peninsula, details of which are summarized in Miller and Kurianov (1993). In...

Subduction-zone volcanoes account for more than 80 percent of the documented eruptions in recorded history, even though volcanism--deep and, hence, unobserved--along the global oceanic ridge systems overwhelmingly dominates in eruptive output. Because subduction-zone eruptions can be highly explosive, they pose some of the greatest natural hazards to society if the eruptions occur in...

Thirty-eight hydrothermal minerals were identified from 356 drill-core specimens that were obtained from three Scientific Observation Holes (SOH-1, SOH-2, and SOH-4) drilled along the lower East Rift Zone (ERZ) of Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii. The minerals formed during alteration of basaltic rocks and glass by hot, circulating, waters in aquifers consisting of variable mixtures of meteoric...

No abstract available.

More than 100 tephra-fall deposits erupted from Mount St. Helens within about the last 40,000 years are grouped into tephra sets and layers distinguished from each other chiefly by differences in mineral composition and age. The tephra deposits record a complex history of the volcano, form important time-stratigraphic markers, and provide information about probable kinds, frequencies...

At an active volcano, long-period seismicity (with typical periods in the range 0.2–2 s) reflects pressure fluctuations resulting from unsteady mass transport in the sub-surface plumbing system, and hence provides a glimpse of the internal dynamics of the volcanic edifice. When this activity occurs at shallow depths, it may signal the pressure-induced disruption of the steam-dominated...

We elaborate on the well-known spatial association between axc volcanoes and Wadati Benioff zones and explore in detail their genetic relationships as dual physical expressions of slab metamorphism of the oceanic crust and uppermost mantle. At hypocentral depths less than 200 km intra slab Wadati-Benioff earthquakes tend to occur near the top surfaces of slabs. Subduction of very young...