Volcanic hazard at Deception Island: Unresolved matter

Deception Island is the most active volcano in the South Shetland Islands (Fig. 1), with more than twenty eruptions recognized during the last two centuries. The island is located at the intersection between the tensional axis of the Bransfield basin and the extension of the Hero Fracture Zone.Recent activity varies in composition from basaltic andesites to dacites and it is characterized by monogenetic eruptions with low volume and short duration. The VEI values varies between 2 and 4, which have generated a wide variety of pyroclastic deposits and lavas. There are a large number of phreatic eruptions, with the release of large balistic blocks in some of them. The large amount of ash found in the ice of Livingston Island (South Shetland Islands), or in marine sediments of the area, show the explosive phreatomagmatic phase and the wide dispersal of its finest products in a variety of directions, which depend on the prevailing winds in each time. It is also important the presence of different lahar deposits associated with some of these eruptions. In this previous work we present the basis for a volcanic hazard assessment at Deception Island in the short and long term, through the application of GIS based tools for eruptive scenario definition.Peer reviewe