Long-runout pyroclastic surge on a Cretaceous alluvial plain, Republic of Korea

Abstract

Pyroclastic surge is a dilute and turbulent flow of volcanic gas and tephra that is commonly generated during explosive volcanic eruptions and can threaten lives along its flow paths. Assessing its travel distance and delineating future volcanic hazards have therefore been major concerns of volcanologists. Historical eruptions show that most pyroclastic surges travel a few tens of kilometres or less from their sources. Aeolian or aquagene processes have therefore been evoked for the emplacement of supposed surge deposits much beyond this distance. Here we show that a Cretaceous tuff bed in Korea was emplaced by an exceptionally powerful pyroclastic surge that flowed as far as the most powerful pyroclastic flows that formed the low-aspect-ratio ignimbrites (LARI). This has significant implications for interpreting ancient volcanic eruptions and delineating volcanic hazards by pyroclastic surges, and casts intriguing questions on the eruption dynamics and physics of long-runout pyroclastic surges and their distinction from LARI-forming pyroclastic flows. © 2005 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.