Observations on lava, snowpack and their interactions during the 2012-13 Tolbachik eruption, Klyuchevskoy Group, Kamchatka, Russia

Observations made during January and April 2013 show that interactions between lava flows and snowpack during the 2012-13 Tolbachik fissure eruption in Kamchatka, Russia, were controlled by different styles of emplacement and flow velocities. `A`a lava flows and sheet lava flows generally moved on top of the snowpack with few immediate signs of interaction besides localized steaming. However, lavas melted through underlying snowpack 1-4 m thick within 12 to 24 h, and melt water flowed episodically from the beneath flows. Pahoehoe lava lobes had lower velocities and locally moved beneath/within the snowpack; even there the snow melting was limited. Snowpack responses were physical, including compressional buckling and doming, and thermal, including partial and complete melting. Maximum lava temperatures were up to 1355 K (1082 °C; type K thermal probes), and maximum measured meltwater temperatures were 335 K (62.7 °C). Theoretical estimates for rates of rapid (e.g., radiative) and slower (conductive) snowmelt are consistent with field observations showing that lava advance was fast enough for `a`a and sheet flows to move on top of the snowpack. At least two styles of physical interactions between lava flows and snowpack observed at Tolbachik have not been previously reported: migration of lava flows beneath the snowpack, and localized phreatomagmatic explosions caused by snowpack failure beneath lava. The distinctive morphologies of sub-snowpack lava flows have a high preservation potential and can be used to document snowpack emplacement during eruptions.