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Revised chronostratigraphy of explosive eruptions at Mt. Pelée volcano (Lesser Antilles) in the last 5 kyr: Tephra dispersal and implications for volcanic hazard assessment

Guillaume Carazzo1, Yoann Legendre2, Audrey Michaud-Dubuy3, Hervé Traineau4

  • Affiliations: 1Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, CNRS, Université Paris Cité, F-75005 Paris, France; 2Université Clermont Auvergne, CNRS, IRD, OPGC, Laboratoire Magmas et Volcans, F-63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France; 3BRGM, F-45100 Orléans, France; 4CFG Geothermal, F-45100 Orléans, France

  • Presentation type: Talk

  • Presentation time: Friday 11:00 - 11:15, Room R280

  • Programme No: 3.4.9

  • Theme 3 > Session 4

Abstract

Mt. Pelée in Martinique is one of the most active volcanoes in the Lesser Antilles with several dome-forming and sub-Plinian to Plinian eruptions over the last 5 kyr. Historical volcanic events include two minor phreatic eruptions in 1792 and 1851, and two dome-forming eruptions that caused a total of 30,000 fatalities in 1902 and the evacuation of 10,000 people in 1929. The prehistoric activity of Mt. Pelée volcano has been extensively studied through geological mapping, tephrostratigraphy, geochronology, petrology, and geochemistry. However, these past eruptions are not all reconstructed with the same level of precision, ranging from a brief description of poorly-preserved deposits to a detailed time evolution of the reconstructed eruption source parameters. Here, we present a revised chronostratigraphy of the explosive activity during the last 5 kyr based on new field data, a unique collection of 120 radiocarbon ages, and detailed sedimentary and stratigraphic investigations. Our results confirm the occurrence of six Plinian eruptions, with a variety of opening phases ranging from a phreatic eruption to violent laterally directed explosions, and nine dome-forming eruptions. All these eruptions produced at some stage dense and/or dilute pyroclastic density currents (PDCs) around the volcano. Our reconstructed isopach and isopleth maps allow us to quantitatively constrain the areas impacted by tephra fallout and PDCs. We discuss how our results on eruption frequency and deposits distribution fit into the revised hazard map of Mt. Pelée volcano.