Submarine landslide megablocks show half of Anak Krakatau island failed on December 22nd, 2018

Abstract

As demonstrated at Anak Krakatau on December 22^nd, 2018, tsunamis generated by volcanic flank collapse are incompletely understood and can be devastating. Here, we present the first high-resolution characterisation of both subaerial and submarine components of the collapse. Combined Synthetic Aperture Radar data and aerial photographs reveal an extensive subaerial failure that bounds pre-event deformation and volcanic products. To the southwest of the volcano, bathymetric and seismic reflection data reveal a blocky landslide deposit (0.214 ± 0.036 km³) emplaced over 1.5 km into the adjacent basin. Our findings are consistent with en-masse lateral collapse with a volume ≥0.175 km³, resolving several ambiguities in previous reconstructions. Post-collapse eruptions produced an additional ~0.3 km³ of tephra, burying the scar and landslide deposit. The event provides a model for lateral collapse scenarios at other arc-volcanic islands showing that rapid island growth can lead to large-scale failure and that even faster rebuilding can obscure pre-existing collapse.

The authors here present a detailed reconstruction of the landslide mass following the 2018 eruption of Anak Krakatau. Bathymetry data reports the volume of the collapsed submarine flank to be much larger than previously reported.