Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

Quantifying the Sedimentation of Ignimbrites

People Involved

Project Description

Pyroclastic density currents (PDCs) are flows of hot gas, ash, pumice and lithic blocks that form during volcanic eruptions. These gravity driven currents transport up to thousands of cubic kilometres of debris and have caused approximately 100,000 deaths since 1600 AD. To help mitigate the hazard, understanding the behaviour of PDCs through time and space is essential. However, our understanding of density currents is hampered by the lack of any instrumentation that can document the processes and conditions within them. Of all the flows on Earth, PDCs are both the most hazardous and the flows that we know the least about. This series of interlinked projects will produce a step-change in our understanding of the emplacement of ignimbrites and the behaviour of the PDCs that formed them.

The principal objective of this portfolio of projects is to test the fundamental conceptual model upon which modern pyroclastic sedimentology is based. PDCs are known to be aerated, have high pore pressures and are highly mobile, but existing models do not take this into account. Therefore when predicting where these currents may flow based on existing models, the results are likely to be inconsistent and uncertain. This project focuses on using novel laboratory modelling techniques to simulate sustained, polymict, semi-fluidised (aerated) currents over complex 2D and 3D topographies and substrates to investigate flow and deposition, and to compare the deposits created to outstanding real world examples. Fundamental understanding of the current processes which form different deposit features (e.g. bedforms) will be quantified for the allowing evidence-based interpretation of PDC deposits (ignimbrites).

Type of Project Research Portfolio
Status Project Live
Funder(s) University of Hull
Value £0.00
Project Dates Sep 1, 2017 - May 31, 2026
This project contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals
SDG 15 - Life on Land

You might also like

Decolonising UK Earth Science pedagogy - from the hidden histories of our geological institutions to inclusive curricula Jan 4, 2022 - Oct 3, 2023
The dominance of western Earth Sciences (i.e. geology and geosciences) discourses continues to (re)appropriate the contributions of the 'Other-indigenous' populations. At the end of the 18th century rocks, minerals and ores were considered part of th... Read More about Decolonising UK Earth Science pedagogy - from the hidden histories of our geological institutions to inclusive curricula.

GeoCoLab Dec 15, 2021 - May 31, 2022
The foundations of a discipline shape the way in which knowledge is created, by whom, for what, and dictate who is allowed to generate knowledge. Geoscience as an academic pursuit was born from colonialism, allowing for Western knowledge and scientis... Read More about GeoCoLab.

Building solid ground for racial diversity in Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences postgraduate research Dec 1, 2021 - May 31, 2022
There is a well-documented racial diversity crisis in Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences (GEES) subjects in the Global North, which leads to inequities in who does environmental research1,2. This project aims to increase participation and re... Read More about Building solid ground for racial diversity in Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences postgraduate research.