A study of clast size distribution, ash deposition and fragmentation in a Hawaiian-style volcanic eruption

Ash deposits from Hawaiian-style eruptions are generally of small volume but are important in understanding the mechanisms of these eruptions. An analysis of the ash deposit from the 1959 Kilauea Iki eruption of Kilauea Volcano is presented and the whole-deposit grain size distribution for the eruption is calculated. The grain size distribution is found to be heavily skewed towards the coarsest clast sizes and to differ considerably from size distributions for Plinian deposits.