Abstract
MOST volcanic explosions are caused by pressure from within the Earth's crust but some marine volcanoes are more violent and have a character different from volcanoes in apparently similar circumstances on land. Volcanic eruptions in shallow water have associated “hydroexplosions” some of which belong to a wider class of events, which can also occur industrially, called fuel-coolant interactions (FCI). This has also been pointed out by Colgate and Sigurgeirsson1. Some authors use the terms “thermal interaction” and “vapour explosion” instead of FCI. Here we illustrate the circumstances under which shallow submarine vulcanism produces hydroexplosions, we indicate what characterises industrial FCI, and using a recent theoretical model we calculate the maximum depth at which hydroexplosions in the form of FCI can occur.
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PECKOVER, R., BUCHANAN, D. & ASHBY, D. Fuel–Coolant Interactions in Submarine Vulcanism. Nature 245, 307–308 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1038/245307a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/245307a0
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