THE VOLCANIC ACTIVITIES AND HAZARD PREDICTION OF WUDALIANCHI VOLCANIC BELT

More than 40 late Cenozoic monogenetic volcanoes formed a volcanic belt striking NNW from Keluo, through Wudalianchi to Erkeshan in NE China. These volcanoes belong to a unified volcano system, namely Wudalianchi volcanic belt(WVB for short). Based on the volcanic evolution history and the nature of monogenetic volcanic system, we estimate that the volcanic system of WVB is still active and has the potential to erupt again. Hence, this paper studied the temporal-spatial distribution and volcanic eruption types to evaluate the possible eruption hazard types and areas of influence in the future. Volcanic field characteristics and K-Ar radiometric data suggest two episodes of volcanism in the WVB, the Pliocene to early Pleistocene volcanism(4.59~1.00MaBP)and the middle Pleistocene to Holocene volcanism(0.79Ma to now). The early episode volcanoes are distributed only in the north of WVB(mainly in Keluo volcanic field), featured by effusive eruption, and mainly formed monogenetic shield, whose base diameter is large and slope is gentle. However, the late episode eruptions occurred over the entire WVB. The explosive eruption in this stage formed numerous relatively intact scoria cones of explosive origin. Meanwhile the effusive eruption formed widely distributed lava flows. Both effusive eruption and explosive eruption are common in WVB. The effusive eruption formed monogenetic shields and lava flows. The resulting pahoehoe lava, aa lava and block lava appeared in WVB. There are three end-member types of explosive eruption driven by magmatic volatile. Violent Strombolian eruption has the highest degree of fragmentation and mass flux, characterized by eruption column. Strombolian eruption has the high degree of fragmentation, but low mass flux, featured by pulse eruption. Hawaiian eruption has low degree of fragmentation, but high in mass flux, generating large scoria cones. In addition, this paper for the first time found phreatomagmatic eruption in WVB, which formed tuff cone. Transitional eruptions are also common in WVB, which have certain characteristics among the end-member eruption types. Besides, certain volcanoes displayed multiple explosive eruption types during the whole eruption span. According to the volcanic temporal-spatial distribution and eruption characteristics in WVB, the potential volcanic hazards in future are constrained. It appears that the violent Strombolian and Strombolian eruption will not have significant impact on aviation safety in the vertical direction. In the radial direction, the ejected volcanic bomb can reach as far as 1km from the vents and the fallout tephra may disperse downwind over a distance ranging from 1~10km. The major hazard of Hawaiian eruption and effusive eruption comes from lava flow, and its migration distance may reach 3.0~13.5km for pahoehoe lava and 2.9~14.9km for aa lava. The base surge in phreatomagmatic eruption can reach a velocity of 200~400m/s, and the migration distance is around 10km. This is a big threat that people should pay more attention to and take precautions in advance. Besides, it is necessary to strengthen the real-time observation of the volcanoes in the WVB, especially those formed in the late episode as well as near the active fault.