View source for Pyroclastic flow

{{Short description|Fast-moving current of hot gas and volcanic matter that moves away from a volcano}}
[[File:Mayon Volcano eruption at Daraga Church.jpg|thumb|Pyroclastic flows sweep down the flanks of [[Mayon|Mayon Volcano]], [[Philippines]], in 2018]]
A '''pyroclastic flow''' (also known as a '''pyroclastic density current''' or a '''pyroclastic cloud''')<ref>{{cite book |last1=Branney |first1=Michael J. |last2=Kokelaar |first2=B. Peter |title=Pyroclastic Density Currents and the Sedimentation of Ignimbrites |date=2002 |publisher=Geological Society of London |isbn=978-1-86239-124-6 }}{{pn|date=January 2025}}</ref> is a fast-moving current of hot [[volcanic gas|gas]] and volcanic matter (collectively known as [[tephra]]) that flows along the ground away from a [[volcano]] at average speeds of {{convert|100|km/h|m/s mph ft/s|-1|abbr=on}} but is capable of reaching speeds up to {{convert|700|km/h|m/s mph ft/s|-1|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/msh//pyroclastic.html|title=MSH Pyroclastic flow [USGS]|publisher=United States Geological Survey}}</ref> The gases and tephra can reach temperatures of about {{convert|1000|C|F|sigfig=2}}.

Pyroclastic flows are the deadliest of all [[volcanic hazard]]s<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Auker|first1=Melanie Rose|last2=Sparks|first2=Robert Stephen John|last3=Siebert|first3=Lee|last4=Crosweller|first4=Helen Sian|last5=Ewert|first5=John|date=2013-02-14|title=A statistical analysis of the global historical volcanic fatalities record|journal=Journal of Applied Volcanology|volume=2|issue=1|pages=2|doi=10.1186/2191-5040-2-2|s2cid=44008872|issn=2191-5040|doi-access=free|bibcode=2013JApV....2....2A }}</ref> and are produced as a result of certain [[explosive eruptions]]; they normally touch the ground and hurtle downhill or spread laterally under gravity. Their speed depends upon the density of the current, the volcanic output rate, and the gradient of the slope.

==Origin of term==
[[File:BishopTuff.jpg|thumb|Pyroclastic rocks from the [[Bishop tuff]]; uncompressed with [[pumice]] (on left), compressed with [[fiamme]] (on right)]]

The word ''pyroclast'' is derived from the [[Greek language|Greek]] {{lang|grc|[[wikt:πῦρ|πῦρ]]}} (''pýr''), meaning "fire", and {{lang|grc|[[wikt:κλαστός|κλαστός]]}} (''klastós''), meaning "broken in pieces".<ref>See:
* {{cite book |last1=Jukes |first1=Joseph Beete |title=The Student's Manual of Geology |date=1862 |publisher=[[Adam and Charles Black]] |location=Edinburgh, Scotland, U.K. |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_xExMQScTSSoC/page/n90 68] |edition=2nd |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_xExMQScTSSoC}} From p. 68: "The word "ash" is not a very good one to include all the mechanical accompaniments of a subaerial or subaqueous eruption, since ash seems to be restricted to a fine powder, the residuum of combustion. A word is wanting to express all such accompaniments, no matter what their size or condition may be, when they are accumulated in such mass as to form beds of "rock." We might call them perhaps "pyroclastic materials," … "</ref><ref name="PerseusDict">{{cite web | url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=klasto%2Fs&la=greek&can=klasto%2Fs0 | title=Definition of κλαστός | publisher=[[Tufts University]] | work=Perseus Greek Dictionary | access-date=8 October 2020}}</ref> A name for pyroclastic flows that glow red in the dark is '''{{lang|fr|nuée ardente}}''' (French, "burning cloud"); this was notably used to describe the disastrous 1902 eruption of [[Mount Pelée]] on [[Martinique]], a French island in the Caribbean.<ref>Lacroix, A. (1904) ''La Montagne Pelée et ses Eruptions'', Paris, Masson (in French)  [https://books.google.com/books?id=eh0hAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA38 From vol. 1, p. 38:]  After describing on p. 37 the eruption of a "dense, black cloud" (''nuée noire''), Lacroix coins the term {{lang|fr|nuée ardente}}:   "{{lang|fr|Peu après l'éruption de ce que j'appellerai désormais la {{strong|nuée ardente}}, un immense nuage de cendres couvrait l'ile tout entière, la saupoudrant d'une mince couche de débris volcaniques.}}"  (Shortly after the eruption of what I will call henceforth the ''dense, glowing cloud'' [''nuée ardente''], an immense cloud of cinders covered the entire island, sprinkling it with a thin layer of volcanic debris.)</ref><ref group=note>Although the coining of the term {{lang|fr|nuée ardente}} in 1904 is attributed to the French geologist [[Alfred Lacroix|Antoine Lacroix]], according to:
* {{cite journal |last1=Hooker |first1=Marjorie |title=The origin of the volcanological concept ''nuée ardente'' |journal=Isis |date=1965 |volume=56 |issue=4 |pages=401–407 |doi=10.1086/350041|s2cid=144772310 }}
the term was used in 1873 by Lacroix's father-in-law and former professor, French geologist [[Ferdinand André Fouqué]] in his description of the 1580 and 1808 eruptions of the volcano on the island of [[São Jorge Island|São Jorge]] in the [[Azores]].  
* {{cite journal |last1=Fouqué |first1=Ferdinand |title=San Jorge et ses éruptions |journal=Revue Scientifique de la France et de l'Étranger |date=1873 |volume=2 |issue=51 |pages=1198–1201 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wOmW-ihiBZAC&pg=PA1198 |series=2nd series |trans-title=São Jorge and its eruptions |language=fr }}
:* From p. 1199:  "{{lang|fr|Un des phénomènes les plus singuliers de cette grande éruption est la production de ce que les témoins contemporains ont appelé des {{strong|nuées ardentes}}.}}" (One of the strangest phenomena of this great eruption is the production of what contemporary witnesses called ''nuées ardentes''.)
:* From p. 1200:  "{{lang|fr|Les détonations cessent dans la journée du 17, mais alors apparaissent des {{strong|nuées ardents}} semblables à celles de l'éruption de 1580.}}" (The detonations cease on the day of the 17th, but then [there] appear burning clouds [''nuées ardents''] similar to those of the eruption of 1580.)
Marjorie Hooker – (Hooker, 1965), p. 405 – records that Father João Inácio da Silveira (1767–1852) from the village of Santo Amaro on São Jorge island wrote an account of the 1808 eruption in which he described an {{lang|pt|ardente nuven}} ("burning cloud" in Portuguese) that flowed down the slopes of the volcano. Silveira's account was published in 1871 and republished in 1883.
* {{cite book |last1=Silveira |first1=João Inácio da |editor1-last=Canto |editor1-first=Ernesto do |title=Archivo dos Açores [Archive of the Azores] |date=1883 |publisher=Archivo dos Açores |location=Ponta Delgada, São Miguel, Azores |pages=437–441 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WBMrAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA440 |language=pt |chapter=XXVIII. Anno de 1808. Erupção na ilha de S. Jorge [XXVIII. Year of 1808. Eruption on the island of São Jorge.]}} From pp. 439–440: "{{lang|pt|Em desassete do dito mês de Maio … de repente se levantou um tufão de fogo ou vulcão e introduzindo-se nas terras lavradias levantou todos aqueles campos até abaixo às vinhas com todas as árvores e bardos, fazendo-se uma medonha e {{strong|ardente nuvem}} e correndo até abaixo de igreja queimou trinta e tantas pessoas na igreja e nos campos…}}" (On the seventeenth of the said month of May … suddenly there arose a typhoon of fire out of the volcano and [it] entered the farm lands, heaved up all those fields down to the vineyards, with all the trees and hedges, forming a fearsome and burning cloud [''ardente nuvem''] and running down to the church, burned more than thirty people in the church and in the fields…)</ref>

Pyroclastic flows that contain a much higher proportion of gas to rock are known as "fully dilute pyroclastic density currents" or [[pyroclastic surge]]s. The lower density sometimes allows them to flow over higher topographic features or water such as ridges, hills, rivers, and seas. They may also contain steam, water, and rock at less than {{convert|250|C|F|-1}}; these are called "cold" compared with other flows, although the temperature is still lethally high. Cold pyroclastic surges can occur when the eruption is from a vent under a shallow lake or the sea. Fronts of some pyroclastic density currents are fully dilute; for example, during the eruption of Mount Pelée in 1902, a fully dilute current overwhelmed the city of [[Saint-Pierre, Martinique|Saint-Pierre]] and killed nearly 30,000 people.<ref>Arthur N. Strahler (1972), ''Planet Earth: its physical systems through geological time''</ref>

A pyroclastic flow is a type of [[gravity current]]; in scientific literature, it is sometimes abbreviated to PDC (pyroclastic density current).

==Causes==
{{Unreferenced section|date=March 2018}}
Several mechanisms can produce a pyroclastic flow:

* ''Fountain collapse'' of an [[eruption column]] from a [[Plinian eruption]] (e.g. [[Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79|Mount Vesuvius' destruction of Herculaneum and Pompeii]] in 79 AD). In such an eruption, the material forcefully ejected from the vent heats the surrounding air and the turbulent mixture rises, through [[convection]], for many kilometers. If the erupted jet is unable to heat the surrounding air sufficiently, convection currents will not be strong enough to carry the plume upwards and it falls, flowing down the flanks of the volcano.{{fact|date=January 2025}}
* ''Fountain collapse'' of an eruption column associated with a [[Vulcanian eruption]] (e.g., [[Montserrat]]'s [[Soufrière Hills]] volcano has generated many of these deadly pyroclastic flows and surges). The gas and projectiles create a cloud that is denser than the surrounding air and becomes a pyroclastic flow.
* Frothing at the mouth of the vent during degassing of the erupted lava. This can lead to the production of a rock called [[ignimbrite]]. This occurred during the eruption of [[Novarupta]] in 1912.
* Gravitational collapse of a [[lava dome]] or spine, with subsequent avalanches and flows down a steep slope (e.g., Montserrat's Soufrière Hills volcano, which caused nineteen deaths in 1997).
* The [[Lateral eruption|directional blast]] (or jet) when part of a volcano collapses or explodes (e.g., the [[1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens|eruption of Mount St. Helens on May 18, 1980]]). As distance from the volcano increases, this rapidly transforms into a gravity-driven current.

==Size and effects==
[[File:PyroclasticFlow.jpg|thumb|Building remnant in Francisco Leon destroyed by pyroclastic surges and flows during eruption of [[El Chichon]] volcano in Mexico in 1982. Reinforcement rods in the concrete were bent in the direction of the flow.]]
[[Image:Pyroclastic Flow St. Helens.jpg|thumb|A scientist examines pumice blocks at the edge of a pyroclastic flow deposit from [[Mount St. Helens]]]]
[[File:Pompeii Garden of the Fugitives 02.jpg|thumb|The casts of some victims in the so-called "Garden of the Fugitives", [[Pompeii]]]]
Flow volumes range from a few hundred cubic meters to more than {{convert|1000|km3|cumi}}. Larger flows can travel for hundreds of kilometres, although none on that scale has occurred for several hundred thousand years. Most pyroclastic flows are around {{convert|1|to(-)|10|km3|cumi|spell=in|frac=4}} and travel for several kilometres. Flows usually consist of two parts: the ''basal flow'' hugs the ground and contains larger, coarse boulders and rock fragments, while an extremely hot [[ash plume]] lofts above it because of the turbulence between the flow and the overlying air, admixing and heating cold atmospheric air causing expansion and convection.<ref>Myers and Brantley (1995). Volcano Hazards Fact Sheet: Hazardous Phenomena at Volcanoes, USGS Open File Report 95-231</ref> Flows can deposit less than 1 meter to 200 meters in depth of loose rock fragment.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pyroclastic flows move fast and destroy everything in their path {{!}} U.S. Geological Survey |url=https://www.usgs.gov/programs/VHP/pyroclastic-flows-move-fast-and-destroy-everything-their-path |access-date=2024-09-12 |publisher=United States Geological Survey}}</ref>

The [[kinetic energy]] of the moving cloud will flatten trees and buildings in its path. The hot gases and high speed make them particularly lethal, as they will quickly incinerate living organisms or turn them into carbonized fossils: 
* The [[Ancient Rome|Ancient Roman]] cities of [[Pompeii]] and [[Herculaneum]] (now in Italy), for example, were engulfed by pyroclastic surges of [[Mount Vesuvius]] in AD 79 with many lives lost.<ref>{{cite book |last=Weller |first=Roger |title=Mount Vesuvius, Italy. |publisher=Cochise College Department of Geology |year=2005 |access-date=15 October 2010 |url=http://skywalker.cochise.edu/wellerr/students/mount-vesuvius2/vesuvius.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101023185623/http://skywalker.cochise.edu/wellerr/students/mount-vesuvius2/vesuvius.htm |archive-date=23 October 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* The [[1902 eruption of Mount Pelée|1902 eruption]] of [[Mount Pelée]] destroyed the [[Martinique]] town of [[Saint-Pierre, Martinique|St. Pierre]]. Despite signs of impending eruption, the government deemed St. Pierre safe due to hills and valleys between it and the volcano, but the pyroclastic flow charred almost the entirety of the city, killing all but three of its 30,000 residents.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}
* A pyroclastic surge killed [[volcanologist]]s [[Harry Glicken]] and [[Katia and Maurice Krafft]] and 40 other people on [[Mount Unzen]], in Japan, on June 3, 1991. The surge started as a pyroclastic flow and the more energised surge climbed a spur on which the Kraffts and the others were standing; it engulfed them, and the corpses were covered with about {{convert|5|mm|in|frac=8|abbr=on}} of ash.<ref>Sutherland, Lin. Reader's Digest Pathfinders Earthquakes and Volcanoes. New York: Weldon Owen Publishing, 2000.</ref>
* On June 25, 1997, a pyroclastic flow travelled down Mosquito Ghaut on the [[Caribbean]] island of [[Montserrat]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Montserrat Volcano Observatory, Special Report 03 |url=https://geo.mtu.edu/volcanoes/west.indies/soufriere/govt/specrep/specrep03.html |access-date=2025-08-20 |website=geo.mtu.edu}}</ref> A large, highly energized pyroclastic surge developed. This flow could not be restrained by the Ghaut and spilled out of it, killing 19 people who were in the Streatham village area (which was officially evacuated). Several others in the area suffered severe burns.

===Interaction with water===
Testimonial evidence from the [[1883 eruption of Krakatoa]], supported by experimental evidence,<ref name=Freundt2003>{{cite journal
  | title = Entrance of hot pyroclastic flows into the sea: experimental observations
  | journal = [[Bulletin of Volcanology]] 
  | volume = 65
  | pages = 144–164
  | year = 2003
  | bibcode = 2002BVol...65..144F
  | last1 = Freundt
  | first1 = Armin
  | issue = 2 
 | doi = 10.1007/s00445-002-0250-1| s2cid = 73620085 
 }}</ref> shows that pyroclastic flows can cross significant bodies of water. However, that might be a [[pyroclastic surge]], not flow, because the density of a gravity current means it cannot move across the surface of water.<ref name=Freundt2003/> One flow reached the [[Sumatra]]n coast as far as {{convert|48|km|nmi|frac=2|abbr=off}} away.<ref>Camp, Vic. "KRAKATAU, INDONESIA (1883)". How Volcanoes Work. Department of Geological Sciences, San Diego State University, 31 Mar. 2006. Web. 15 Oct. 2010. [http://www.geology.sdsu.edu/how_volcanoes_work/Krakatau.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141216203501/http://www.geology.sdsu.edu/how_volcanoes_work/Krakatau.html|date=2014-12-16}}.</ref>

A 2006 BBC documentary film, ''Ten Things You Didn't Know About Volcanoes'',<ref>{{IMDb title|qid=Q130302251|id=tt1027751|title=Ten Things You Didn't Know About Volcanoes (2006)}}</ref> demonstrated tests by a research team at [[Kiel University]], Germany, of pyroclastic flows moving over the water.<ref>[http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=14575991 Entrance of hot pyroclastic flows into the sea: experimental observations], [[INIST]].</ref> When the reconstructed pyroclastic flow (stream of mostly hot ash with varying densities) hit the water, two things happened: the heavier material fell into the water, precipitating out from the pyroclastic flow and into the liquid; the temperature of the ash caused the water to evaporate, propelling the pyroclastic flow (now only consisting of the lighter material) along on a bed of steam at an even faster pace than before.

During some phases of the Soufriere Hills volcano on Montserrat, pyroclastic flows were filmed about {{convert|1|km|nmi|frac=2|abbr=on}} offshore. These show the water boiling as the flow passes over it. The flows eventually built a delta, which covered about {{convert|1|km2|acre|sigfig=2|abbr=on}}. Another example was observed in 2019 at [[Stromboli]] when a pyroclastic flow traveled for several hundreds of meters above the sea.<ref>{{Cite web|first1=Sandro|last1=de Vita|first2=Mauro A.|last2=Di Vito|first3=Rosella|last3=Nave|date=2019-09-05|title=Quando un flusso piroclastico scorre sul mare: esempi a Stromboli e altri vulcani|url=https://ingvvulcani.com/2019/09/05/quando-un-flusso-piroclastico-scorre-sul-mare-esempi-a-stromboli-e-altri-vulcani/|access-date=2021-10-04|website=INGV vulcani|language=it-IT}}</ref>

A pyroclastic flow can interact with a body of water to form a large amount of mud, which can then continue to flow downhill as a [[lahar]]. This is one of several mechanisms that can create a lahar.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}

===On other celestial bodies===
In 1963, NASA astronomer [[Winifred Cameron]] proposed that the lunar equivalent of terrestrial pyroclastic flows may have formed sinuous [[rille]]s on the [[Moon]]. In a lunar volcanic eruption, a pyroclastic cloud would follow local relief, resulting in an often sinuous track. The Moon's [[Schroter's Valley|Schröter's Valley]] offers one example.<ref>
{{cite journal | last1 = Cameron | first1 = W. S. | year = 1964 
| title = An Interpretation of Schröter's Valley and Other Lunar Sinuous Rills 
| journal = [[Journal of Geophysical Research]] | volume = 69 | issue = 12
| pages = 2423–2430 | doi = 10.1029/JZ069i012p02423 
| bibcode=1964JGR....69.2423C
}}
</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=July 2019}}
Some volcanoes on [[Mars]], such as [[Tyrrhenus Mons]] and [[Hadriacus Mons]], have produced layered deposits that appear to be more easily eroded than lava flows, suggesting that they were emplaced by pyroclastic flows.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Zimbelman |first1=James R. |last2=Garry |first2=William Brent |last3=Bleacher |first3=Jacob Elvin |last4=Crown |first4=David A. |editor1-last=Sigurdsson |editor1-first=Haraldur |editor2-last=Houghton |editor2-first=Bruce |editor3-last=McNutt |editor3-first=Steve |editor4-last=Rymer |editor4-first=Hazel |editor5-last=Stix |editor5-first=John |title=The Encyclopedia of Volcanoes |date=2015 |publisher=Zimbelman |location=Amsterdam |isbn=978-0-12-385938-9 |pages=717–728 |edition=Second |chapter-url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780123859389000419 |chapter=Volcanism on Mars}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Pyroclastic fall]]
*[[Pyroclastic rock]]
*[[Welded tuff]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

* Sigurdson, Haraldur: Encyclopedia of volcanoes. Academic Press, 546–548. {{ISBN|0-12-643140-X}}.

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==External links==
{{Commons|Pyroclastic flow}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120323141226/http://www.maniacworld.com/erupting-volcano.htm Pyroclastic Flows] video

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[[Category:Volcanism]]