KEGS/BCGS Roundup Breakfast – Tuesday, January 29, 2019
Speaker: Dr. Glyn Williams-Jones, Centre for Natural Hazards Research, Department of Earth Sciences, Simon Fraser University
Title: Mt. Meager volcano – a complex and active multi-hazard system
Date/Time: 2019-01-29 @ 7:30am – 9:00am
Location: Princess Louisa Room, The Fairmont Waterfront Hotel
900 Canada Place, Vancouver, BC V6C 3L5
Registration: Online at www.kegsonline.org (Deadline Jan 27, 2019)
Abstract:
Climate change is causing the retreat of glaciers throughout the Canadian Cordillera, including at volcanoes. Glacial retreat can lead to unloading at the base of steep slopes, which coupled with the often wide spread hydrothermal alteration of volcanic massifs, can facilitate large landslides capable of traveling tens of kilometres and impacting population centres and infrastructure. Increasing summer temperatures can further heighten snowmelt that is capable of infiltrating slopes and triggering landslides.
The Mount Meager Volcanic Complex (MMVC), a large volcanic system located 65 km northwest of Pemberton, BC, is the site of long-lived volcanic activity. Mt. Meager was the site of Canada’s largest recent explosive event, ~ 2430 years ago, with the eruption of 0.8 km3 of material sending ash 530 km east to Calgary. It currently hosts actively degassing fumaroles that have formed melt caves in the Job Glacier on the northern flank of massif. The long-lived activity of Mt. Meager has also made it the target of extensive geothermal energy exploration and important nearby infrastructure exists in the form a run-of-river hydroelectric project on the upper Lillooet river.
Importantly, Mt. Meager is the also site of Canada’s largest historic landslide in 2010 with a total failure volume of 53 ± 4 x 106 m3. Field mapping and terrain analysis suggests that it was likely weakened due to substantial changes in the hydrological system associated with loss of glacier ice (~1.3 km3 of ice loss since 1987). Continued InSAR monitoring has identified numerous hydrothermally altered slopes (27 at >5 x 105 m2) that are actively deforming; some of these slopes are moving at up to 36 ± 10 mm per month during the summer and have volumes > 300-500 x 106 m3. As such, there is a significant and imminent threat to infrastructure and communities downstream.
This talk will present an overview of the volcanic history, ongoing and future research projects as well as the current status, geohazards and new monitoring initiatives on the Mt. Meager Volcanic Complex.
About the Author:
Dr. Glyn Williams-Jones,
B.Sc. U. Montréal, 1994; M.Sc. U. Montréal, 1997; Ph.D. Open University (UK), 2001; Postdoc U. Hawaii Manoa, 2003.
Glyn is a Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at Simon Fraser University and co-Director of the Centre for Natural Hazards Research. The Centre for Natural Hazards Research has a broad mandate to conduct innovative training and research on geophysical processes that are a threat to the population and economic infrastructure of Canada.
Glyn is a physical volcanologist whose multidisciplinary research involves geochemical and geophysical modelling in conjunction with terrestrial and satellite remote sensing to investigate the processes responsible for triggering volcanic eruptions as well those controlling persistently active volcanism. The principal focus of his research is the investigation through active monitoring and retrospective studies of the interaction between the intruding magma and that already residing in the reservoir. The goal of this work is to gain insight into the precursory signals of volcanic activity and the mechanisms that trigger volcanic eruptions.