Could glacial retreat-related landslides trigger volcanic eruptions? Insights from Mount Meager, British Columbia
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| Authors: | Roberti, G; Ward, B; van Wyk de Vries, B; Le Corvec, N; Venugopal, S; Williams-Jones, G; Clague, JJ; Friele, P; Falorni, G; Baldeon, G; Perotti, L; Giardino, M; Menounos, B |
| Year: | 2020 |
| Journal: | In: Vilímek V., Wang F., Strom A., Sassa K., Bobrowsky P.T., Takara K. (eds) Understanding and Reducing Landslide Disaster Risk. WLF 2020. ICL Contribution to Landslide Disaster Risk Reduction. Springer PDF Article Link (DOI) |
| Title: | Could glacial retreat-related landslides trigger volcanic eruptions? Insights from Mount Meager, British Columbia |
| Abstract: | Mount Meager, a glacier-clad volcanic complex in British Columbia, Canada, is known for its large landslides, as well as a major eruption about 2360 years ago. In 2010, after decades of glacier retreat, the south flank of Mount Meager collapsed, generating a huge (53 Mm3) landslide. In 2016, fumaroles formed ice caves in one of the glaciers on the complex. This glacier is bordered by a large unstable slope presently moving about 3.5 cm per month. If this slope were to fail, a long-runout debris avalanche would reach the floor of the Lillooet River valley, with possible destructive effects on downstream infrastructure. The unloading of the volcanic edifice from an abrupt failure would also have unknown effects on the magmatic plumbing system. From geochemical, geophysical, and petrological data, we infer the presence of a magmatic chamber at 3–16 km depth. Based on numerical model simulations carried out to constrain the stress change, the failure would affect the stress field to depths of up to ~6 km, with changes in effective stress of up to ~4 MPa. The change in effective stress following such a landslide might destabilize the magmatic chamber and trigger an eruption. This result also suggests that a previously documented major flank collapse may have had a role in the 2360 cal yr BP eruption. |
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