The respiratory health hazard of tephra from the 2010 Centennial eruption of Merapi with implications for occupational mining of deposits

Damby, D. E. and Horwell, C. J. and Baxter, P. J. and Delmelle, P. and Donaldson, K. and Dunster, C. and Fubini, B. and Murphy, F. A. and Nattrass, C. and Sweeney, S. and Tetley, T. D. and Tomatis, M. (2013) The respiratory health hazard of tephra from the 2010 Centennial eruption of Merapi with implications for occupational mining of deposits. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 261. pp. 376-387. ISSN 0377-0273 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2012.09.001)

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Abstract

Ashfall into heavily populated areas during the October-November 2010 eruption of Merapi volcano, Indonesia created anxiety regarding the growing impacts to health as the eruption escalated and the hazard zone widened. We made a preliminary assessment of the respiratory hazards to human health of the tephra deposits (ashfall, lahar, and PDC surge) from the eruption using a laboratory protocol specifically developed to study the toxic potential of volcanic ash particles. Twenty samples collected from a range of locations were analysed for health-pertinent mineralogical parameters (grain size, crystalline silica content, morphology, surface area, bulk chemistry, and leachable elements) and bio-reactivity (hydroxyl radical generation, haemolytic potential, oxidative capacity, pro-inflammatory response). The grain size pertinent to respiratory health was variable, ranging from 1.4-15.6 vol.% sub-4. μm and 3.0-28.9 vol.% sub-10. μm diameter material. No fibre-like particles were observed. Cristobalite was present in all samples, ranging from 1.9-9.5. wt.%, but surface reactivity and in vitro toxicity assays showed low reactivity for all samples tested. The risk of direct exposure to ash from fallout was in any case low due to seasonal rains limiting its re-suspension and the immediate and effective clean-up of communities by local people who supplied the ash to the Indonesian construction industry for use as aggregate. However, mining of the lahar and thick PDC deposits in the valleys draining the volcano is performed on a vast, industrial scale, which could result in high occupational exposure to thousands of sand miners at Merapi during the dry seasons. Further study of the health hazard of the mined Merapi deposits is warranted.

  • Item type:Article
    ID code:83688
    Dates:
    Date
    Event
    1 July 2013
    Published
    4 September 2012
    Accepted
    Notes:Funding Information: We thank the MIA-VITA team for inviting us to join their field mission. In particular, Susanna Jenkins for field mission planning and logistics, Jean-Christophe Komorowski, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, for field assistance, and Jochen Berger, Universität Hohenheim, for support. We were joined in the field by Estu Mei and Adrien Picquout, Université Panthéon Sorbonne (Paris I), and are indebted to them for their important collaboration in our mission, including acting as local interpreters. Estu also translated the IVHHN pamphlets into Bahasa Indonesian. We are grateful to Agung Harijoko and Bambang Widjaja, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia for field support and helpful discussion, as well as for generously organising meetings with local experts and officials. We also thank all those who were kind enough to send ash samples during and following the eruption. Our thanks to Nick March, University of Leicester, UK for XRF analyses, Chris Rolfe, University of Cambridge, UK for grain size analyses, and to the Durham GJ Russell Microscopy Facility. DD thanks the Christopher Moyes Memorial Foundation for financial support and dedication to the project. We also gratefully acknowledge Geoff Plumlee and John Pallister for their insightful reviews of the manuscript.
    Subjects:Science > Geology
    Medicine > Public aspects of medicine
    Department:Faculty of Science > Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences
    Depositing user: Pure Administrator
    Date deposited:12 Jan 2023 10:52
    Last modified:26 Apr 2024 00:57
    Related URLs:
    URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/83688
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