2015 Volume 124 Issue 4 Pages 575-586
Hummocks are conically shaped mounds, which occur following catastrophic sector collapses, and are mainly observed around volcanoes. Empirical relationships of hummocks proposed by Yoshida et al. (2012) are basically applicable if hummocks now distributed on a debris avalanche depositional area do not have remarkable disturbances due to topographical barriers or modifications after deposition. Using these empirical relationships, the Old Yotei volcano, whose mega-collapse in the Late Pleistocene has not been clarified yet, is examined. The results show that the size-distance relationship of hummocks (N=297), distributed west of the volcano can be expressed by an exponential function as,
A=α exp (−β D),
where A is the average area of a hummock within a certain span and D is the average distance from the source. For the Old Yotei volcano, the values of coefficients α and β of the fitted curve are 170286.4 and 0.000429, respectively. Based on a geomorphological interpretation of both α and β values, it can be concluded that the collapse volume of the Old Yotei volcano is ca.1.3 km3, and the equivalent coefficient of friction of the debris avalanche is 0.129. The latter also reveals a high probability that the pre-collapse summit of the Old Yotei volcano reached 1700 m a.s.l. Thus, the image of the flank collapse of the Old Yotei volcano has been restored more decisively by the distribution of hummocks.
