| Water waves can be generated by any sort of geophysical mass flow, including debris flows, debris avalanches, pyroclastic flows, landslides, and rockfalls, and pose significant hazards in a variety of settings. Tsunamis generated by submarine mass flows constitute a widely recognized hazardous phenomenon. A key motivation for the work reported here is improving our ability to assess water wave hazards in lakes and reservoirs likely to be affected by volcanogenic mass flows. The flanks of volcanoes are commonly host to large quantities of unconsolidated sediment and are especially prone to spawning mass flows, sometimes generated in the course of eruptive activity, but often during periods of volcanic quiescence as well. In this paper we restrict our attention to water waves generated by mass flows that originate subaerially and do not interact thermally with water. We therefore specifically exclude the case of water wave generation by pyroclastic density currents, which commonly split into two components upon hitting a water body: one part plunges into the water while the other moves over the water surface. -- Walder, et.al., 2003 |
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[J.S. Walder, Research Hydrologist Menu] ...
