Eruption Column - Structure

Structure

The solid or liquid material in an eruption column is lifted by processes which vary as the material ascends:

• At the base of the plume, material is forced upwards out of the vent by the pressure of expanding gas, mainly steam. The gas expands because the pressure of rock above it rapidly reduces as it approaches the surface. This region is called the gas thrust region and typically reaches to only one or two kilometres above the vent.

• The convective thrust region covers most of the height of the plume. The gas thrust region is very turbulent and surrounding air becomes mixed into it and heated. The air expands, reducing its density and rising. The rising air carries the solid and liquid material from the eruption entrained in it upwards.

• As the plume rises into less dense surrounding air, it will eventually reach an altitude where the hot, rising air is of the same density as the surrounding cooler air. In this neutral buoyancy region, the erupted material will then no longer rise through convection, but solely through any upward momentum which it has. This is called the umbrella region, and is usually marked by the column spreading out sideways. The eruptive material and the surrounding cool air has the same density at the base of the umbrella region, and the top is marked by the maximum height which momentum carries the material upward. Because the speeds are very low or negligible in this region it is often distorted by stratospheric winds.