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Volcaniclastic density currents explain widespread and diverse seafloor impacts of the 2022 Hunga Volcano eruption

The impacts of large terrestrial volcanic eruptions are apparent from satellite monitoring and direct observations. However, more than three quarters of all volcanic outputs worldwide lie submerged beneath the ocean, and the risks they pose to people, infrastructure, and benthic ecosystems remain po...

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Autores principales: Seabrook, Sarah, Mackay, Kevin, Watson, Sally J., Clare, Michael A., Hunt, James E., Yeo, Isobel A., Lane, Emily M., Clark, Malcolm R., Wysoczanski, Richard, Rowden, Ashley A., Kula, Taaniela, Hoffmann, Linn J., Armstrong, Evelyn, Williams, Michael J. M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10689732/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38036504
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-43607-2
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author Seabrook, Sarah
Mackay, Kevin
Watson, Sally J.
Clare, Michael A.
Hunt, James E.
Yeo, Isobel A.
Lane, Emily M.
Clark, Malcolm R.
Wysoczanski, Richard
Rowden, Ashley A.
Kula, Taaniela
Hoffmann, Linn J.
Armstrong, Evelyn
Williams, Michael J. M.
author_facet Seabrook, Sarah
Mackay, Kevin
Watson, Sally J.
Clare, Michael A.
Hunt, James E.
Yeo, Isobel A.
Lane, Emily M.
Clark, Malcolm R.
Wysoczanski, Richard
Rowden, Ashley A.
Kula, Taaniela
Hoffmann, Linn J.
Armstrong, Evelyn
Williams, Michael J. M.
author_sort Seabrook, Sarah
collection PubMed
description The impacts of large terrestrial volcanic eruptions are apparent from satellite monitoring and direct observations. However, more than three quarters of all volcanic outputs worldwide lie submerged beneath the ocean, and the risks they pose to people, infrastructure, and benthic ecosystems remain poorly understood due to inaccessibility and a lack of detailed observations before and after eruptions. Here, comparing data acquired between 2015 - 2017 and 3 months after the January 2022 eruption of Hunga Volcano, we document the far-reaching and diverse impacts of one of the most explosive volcanic eruptions ever recorded. Almost 10 km(3) of seafloor material was removed during the eruption, most of which we conclude was redeposited within 20 km of the caldera by long run-out seafloor density currents. These powerful currents damaged seafloor cables over a length of >100 km, reshaped the seafloor, and caused mass-mortality of seafloor life. Biological (mega-epifaunal invertebrate) seafloor communities only survived the eruption where local topography provided a physical barrier to density currents (e.g., on nearby seamounts). While the longer-term consequences of such a large eruption for human, ecological and climatic systems are emerging, we expect that these previously-undocumented refugia will play a key role in longer-term ecosystem recovery.
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spelling pubmed-106897322023-12-02 Volcaniclastic density currents explain widespread and diverse seafloor impacts of the 2022 Hunga Volcano eruption Seabrook, Sarah Mackay, Kevin Watson, Sally J. Clare, Michael A. Hunt, James E. Yeo, Isobel A. Lane, Emily M. Clark, Malcolm R. Wysoczanski, Richard Rowden, Ashley A. Kula, Taaniela Hoffmann, Linn J. Armstrong, Evelyn Williams, Michael J. M. Nat Commun Article The impacts of large terrestrial volcanic eruptions are apparent from satellite monitoring and direct observations. However, more than three quarters of all volcanic outputs worldwide lie submerged beneath the ocean, and the risks they pose to people, infrastructure, and benthic ecosystems remain poorly understood due to inaccessibility and a lack of detailed observations before and after eruptions. Here, comparing data acquired between 2015 - 2017 and 3 months after the January 2022 eruption of Hunga Volcano, we document the far-reaching and diverse impacts of one of the most explosive volcanic eruptions ever recorded. Almost 10 km(3) of seafloor material was removed during the eruption, most of which we conclude was redeposited within 20 km of the caldera by long run-out seafloor density currents. These powerful currents damaged seafloor cables over a length of >100 km, reshaped the seafloor, and caused mass-mortality of seafloor life. Biological (mega-epifaunal invertebrate) seafloor communities only survived the eruption where local topography provided a physical barrier to density currents (e.g., on nearby seamounts). While the longer-term consequences of such a large eruption for human, ecological and climatic systems are emerging, we expect that these previously-undocumented refugia will play a key role in longer-term ecosystem recovery. Nature Publishing Group UK 2023-11-30 /pmc/articles/PMC10689732/ /pubmed/38036504 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-43607-2 Text en © The Author(s) 2023 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Article
Seabrook, Sarah
Mackay, Kevin
Watson, Sally J.
Clare, Michael A.
Hunt, James E.
Yeo, Isobel A.
Lane, Emily M.
Clark, Malcolm R.
Wysoczanski, Richard
Rowden, Ashley A.
Kula, Taaniela
Hoffmann, Linn J.
Armstrong, Evelyn
Williams, Michael J. M.
Volcaniclastic density currents explain widespread and diverse seafloor impacts of the 2022 Hunga Volcano eruption
title Volcaniclastic density currents explain widespread and diverse seafloor impacts of the 2022 Hunga Volcano eruption
title_full Volcaniclastic density currents explain widespread and diverse seafloor impacts of the 2022 Hunga Volcano eruption
title_fullStr Volcaniclastic density currents explain widespread and diverse seafloor impacts of the 2022 Hunga Volcano eruption
title_full_unstemmed Volcaniclastic density currents explain widespread and diverse seafloor impacts of the 2022 Hunga Volcano eruption
title_short Volcaniclastic density currents explain widespread and diverse seafloor impacts of the 2022 Hunga Volcano eruption
title_sort volcaniclastic density currents explain widespread and diverse seafloor impacts of the 2022 hunga volcano eruption
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10689732/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38036504
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-43607-2
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