Posteruptive impacts of pyroclastic deposits from basaltic andesite stratovolcanoes on surface water composition

Abstract

Volcanic ash deposition following explosive eruptions can pose significant hazards for water quality, human health, agriculture, and infrastructure functionality. Many studies have examined how fresh ash deposition may lower the pH of, and introduce a range of potentially toxic elements into, exposed surface waters. However, no study has yet determined the effects on water composition as a result of mechanical pyroclast disaggregation and production of new fresh particle surfaces and increasingly fine grained particles. Such disaggregation could result from natural posteruptive processes such as debris avalanches, lahars, or fluvial/aeolian transport and human activities such as cleanup efforts or mining of pyroclastic deposits. The posteruption time scales of pyroclast disaggregation may vary from months in moist tropical or temperate environments to years or decades in arid settings. Here we show, for the first time in experimental studies, that mechanical milling of pyroclasts will introduce a range of elements into exposed waters, including Al, which can be toxic at elevated levels, and Na, which increases the electrical conductivity of solutions. The pH of leaching solutions also increases by several log units. Such dramatic changes on the experimental scale may have implications for surface water composition in posteruptive settings, necessitating longer-term risk assessments for ecosystem health and consideration of the role of pyroclastic deposits in element cycling in volcanically active regions.