A study of the Taisho lahar generated by the 1926 eruption of Tokachidake Volcano, central Hokkaido, Japan, and implications for the generation of cohesive lahars

• The Taisho lahar (Tokachidake Volcano, 1926 lahar) was cohesive.
• The lahar was generated by the explosion of the hydrothermal system.
• Probable water sources of cohesive lahars are snow/ice and hydrothermal water.

Understanding the generation mechanisms of lahars is important for improving volcanic hazard assessments. The Taisho lahar (TL) was generated during the 1926 eruption of Tokachidake Volcano, Japan, and was considered a typical snowmelt lahar caused by the runout of hot debris onto a snow-covered slope. A similar mechanism produced a huge mud flow during the 1985 eruption of Nevado del Ruiz, Colombia. However, the origin of water in such lahars remains a controversial topic because the calculated water mass is based on the assumption that all of the snow on the runout area of the TL was melted, although this is much less than the estimated water volume in the TL estimated by previous studies. I have re-examined proximal deposits of the TL and their paleomagnetic characteristics in order to better understand the eruption sequence and formation of the TL. The TL produced two debris avalanche deposits and a surge-like deposit that had relatively high emplacement temperature (~ 350 °C). The deposits are composed of hydrothermally altered andesitic gravel, sand and mud. The high clay content (3–5 wt.% clay in the < 2 mm fraction) and sedimentary characteristics indicate that the flow was a cohesive lahar, most likely induced by collapse of a hydrothermally altered pyroclastic cone (hypocenter). The presence of the surge deposit indicates that the TL was not caused by simple collapse of a cinder cone but by a phreatic explosion that resulted in sector collapse. This suggests that the hydrothermal system was related to the 1926 eruption. The present-day volcano has a large hydrothermal system (1 × 106 m3 water) beneath the active crater. This study indicates that hydrothermal system explosions can trigger cohesive lahars that contain both snow melt and hydrothermal pore water, and this indicates the need to monitor hydrothermal systems.