Gases over 100 degrees and tiny particles of volcanic glass, the effects of lava touching the sea.


Last night the lava flow erupted into the sea causing an immediate chemical reaction. After falling down a cliff of about 100 meters, the volcanic material at a temperature of between 900 and 1,000 ºC came into contact with the water, which was at 20 ºC.

“The reaction that occurs is a strong evaporation because the temperature difference is so great that the lava is able to heat the water very quickly, and clouds are generated in which a large part is water vapor,” David Orejana, a professor in the Department of Mineralogy and Petrology at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), told SINC.

The reaction that occurs is a strong evaporation because the temperature difference is so great that the lava is able to heat the water very quickly.

David Orejana

But although it is its main component, water does not only contain hydrogen and oxygen (H2O), it has other chemical components such as chlorine, carbon and others that can generate various gases and volatile substances.

These form the cloud of whitish color or columns (plumes), loaded with hydrochloric acid, as has been observed from the first moment, report from the Volcanological Institute of the Canary Islands (INVOLCAN).

“The seawater is rich in sodium chloride (NaCl) and the main chemical process that occurs with the high temperature of the lava is, in addition to the column of water vapor, the generation of hydrochloric acid (HCl),” explains to SINC the geochemist Pedro Hernandez of INVOLCAN, an institute that will soon fly a drone with chemical sensors in the area to analyze the gases.

In addition, other compounds are generated,” he adds, “but they are not comparable to hydrochloric acid from the point of view of safety, since, among other effects, can cause irritation to the skin or eyes, so it is advisable to move away from the area where this acid vapor is arriving”.gone.

This is what the gases emitted are like

The expert stresses that this cloud has nothing to do with the great volcanic plume: “There is emitted a lot of sulfur dioxide (main gas that helps us monitor the state of the eruption), carbon dioxide and other compounds, but at much higher altitude”.

The possible toxicity of the gases occurs near the entrance to the sea, a few tens or hundreds of meters away, but at a greater distance they are dispersed.

The acid vapour plume generated by the glowing lava and the sea also contains tiny particles of volcanic glass. “When in contact with a colder environment and with a large volume of water, the lava cools very quickly, which causes it to solidify in the form of mostly glass, which can fracture due to the thermal difference,” explains Orejana.

In general, these are very hot gases – above 100 ºC when the water boils – which can be toxic at times. “As soon as they are released into the atmosphere, they will be dispersed and dissolved. There may be a certain risk when you are very close, but obviously as this area has been perimetered for several kilometres around, it has been protected and should not be a worrying factor”.

Professor José Mangas of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC), agrees about the possible toxicity of the gases: “It happens near the entrance of the sea, a few tens or hundreds of meters, but at a greater distance they disperse, are diluted in the atmosphere and are less dangerous.

The researcher details the many compounds involved: “The salts dissolved in the sea, such as chlorides, sulphates and carbonates, are converted into acids (hydrochloric HCl, hydrogen sulphide H2S, sulphuric H2SO4, carbon trioxide CO3, bicarbonate HCO3) and oxides (such as sulphur dioxide SO2, sulphur monoxide SO, carbon dioxide CO2, carbon monoxide CO, etc.) but always in a minimum proportion, but always in a minimum proportion.) but always in a minimum proportion, as we start from 35 grams of salts per litre of seawater (the average concentration of salinity in the oceans)”.

The duration of these processes and emissions will last for about a year.Mangas points out, “although there are also magmatic gases that are similar, but they affect the vicinity of the explosive fracture and the volcanic cone”.

In any case, the gaseous compounds of the small cloud are going to be mixed with the atmosphere and, according to experts, in principle its concentration will decrease. The wind regime in the area will determine their movements and dispersion.

What happens to the water?

The high temperature of the lava brings the water with which it is in direct contact to boiling point at more than 100 ºC. “That water is evaporating, but as it gets further away from the lava flow, the temperature decreases progressively,” says the UCM professor.

The temperature of the water recovers progressively the farther away it gets from the wash.

The temperature of the seawater recovers progressively as it moves further away from the wash. “The temperature of the seawater recovers progressively the further away it gets from the casting, except in the contact zone where the former evaporates immediately,” adds Orejana.

As the expert explains, as long as the lava continues to reach the sea and petrify making the island grow above sea level, that chemical reaction is going to continue. “There will always be a sheet of water that will be in contact with the hot lava flow. As long as it continues to arrive, it will continue to generate this response, because there will always be that temperature difference,” he says.

A local and controlled risk

The effects of gasification or incorporation of gases from the lava flow into the sea are therefore restricted to the area of contact between the lava and the sea, which is where the evaporation takes place. “When we move away, in principle, the effects of the eruption of the lava flow into the water tend to disappear or be greatly minimized,” reassures Orejana.

The INVOLCAN experts warn that these columns of steam of nature acidic represent a local and well delimited danger

In the same line, INVOLCAN experts warn that these columns of steam of acidic nature represent a local danger – well delimited – for people who visit or are in the coastal area where this encounter between lava and sea occurs.

Furthermore, they insist that this steam plume is not as energetic as the plume of the volcanic cone where a powerful jet of acid volcanic gases is being produced. These are injected into the atmosphere with so much energy that they reach a height of 5 km.

Inhalation or contact with acid gases and liquids can irritate the skin, eyes and respiratory tract, as well as cause breathing difficulties, especially in people with pre-existing respiratory diseases, warn from INVOLCAN.

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