The enormous Chillos Valley Lahar: an ash-flow-generated debris flow from Cotopaxi Volcano, Ecuador

Abstract:

The Chillos Valley Lahar (CVL), the largest Holocene debris flow in area and volume as yet recognized in the northern Andes, formed on Cotopaxi volcano's north and northeast slopes and descended river systems that took it 326 km north–northwest to the Pacific Ocean and 130+ km east into the Amazon basin. In the Chillos Valley, 40 km downstream from the volcano, depths of 80–160 m and valley cross sections up to 337 000 m2 are observed, implying peak flow discharges of 2.6–6.0 million m3/s. The overall volume of the CVL is estimated to be ≈3.8 km3. The CVL was generated approximately 4500 years BP by a rhyolitic ash flow that followed a small sector collapse on the north and northeast sides of Cotopaxi, which melted part of the volcano's icecap and transformed rapidly into the debris flow. The ash flow and resulting CVL have identical components, except for foreign fragments …

Año de publicación:

1998

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