Water-Rock interaction (WRI-11) 2004. Wanty & Seal II eds. A.A Balkema Publishers.

Geochemical evolution of the young crater lake of Kelud volcano in

Indonesia
A. Bernard & A.Mazot

BRUEGEL (Brussels unit for Environmental, Geochemical and Life Sciences Studies), Universit Libre de
Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium

ABSTRACT: After the February 1990 plinian eruption of the Kelud volcano, a new lake rapidly filled its crater. This young lake offers the opportunity to study the evolution and re-equilibration of a volcanichydrothermal system after a magmatic eruption. Geochemical and thermal changes of the crater lake have
been recorded during the period 1993-2003 in which a decrease in temperature and ionic concentrations of the
lake was observed. The initial lake chemistry (1993-1997) was dominated by Na-K chloride waters. Today,
Ca-Mg sulfate waters are the main component in the lake. The temporal evolution in the chemistry of the lake
waters suggests the presence of two distinct hydrothermal systems feeding the lake: a deep system at high
temperature (250C) with neutral alkali-chloride fluids and a shallow aquifer at lower temperature dominated
by Ca/Mg-sulfate waters.
1 INTRODUCTION
Kelud is one of the most active volcanoes of Java
with a record of 29 eruptions since 1311 and with
repose intervals between eruptions ranging from 1 to
75 years. After the last eruption that occurred in
February 1990, a new lake rapidly filled the crater of
this volcano. Persistent degassing from subaqueous
fumaroles and hot springs discharging into the lake
maintain water temperatures between 31-50C,
higher than the ambient temperature of 19C. The
lake is shallow with a maximum depth of 34 m and a
volume estimated at 2.1 million m3.
A tunnel was drilled through the crater wall in 1926
to drain the lake and keep its volume constant. High
overflows through the drainage tunnel (between 300
and 500 kg s-1) are typically observed even during
the dry season. This high overflow combined with
the small volume of the lake make the residence
times of the elements in the lake particularly short,
around 80-100 days. The temperature and geochemistry of the lake has been regularly monitored since
1993 in order to understand the processes leading to
the re-equilibration of the lake-hydrothermal system
after the February 1990 magmatic eruption.
2 GEOCHEMISTRY OF THE LAKE WATERS
The composition of the lake is rather unusual for an
active volcano and corresponds to a near-neutral pH

(~6) relatively diluted water with a TDS of a few

g.kg-1 (Table1).
This neutral composition contrasts with the
highly acidic waters (pH = 0-1) most frequently observed in active crater lakes where the discharge of
magmatic volatiles (SO2, HCl, HF) directly into the
lake or into the sub-surface hydrothermal system
produces acid sulfate-chloride waters with elevated
Al and Fe contents.

Table 1. Selected compositions of Kelud crater lake. Data are

in mg.kg-1.
__________________________________________________
KCL3
KCL9
KCL37
KCL56
Date
18
Dec
93
1
Aug
94
24
Sept
02
4 Sept 03
__________________________________________________
Temperature
42.8
42.1
33.2
30.7
(C)
Depth
15
32
0
0
(m)
pH
5.9
6.3
6.5
6.5
TDS
3.2
3.7
2.2
2
(g/kg)
Na
700
1020
342
271
K
92
102
39
30
Ca
105
130
135
147
Mg
55
67
80
78
Si
109
133
129
111
B
11
14
4
3
F
6
7
<1
<1
Cl
1300
1300
290
200
631
692
670
679
SO4
238
207
435
472
HCO
3
__________________________________________________

Water-Rock interaction (WRI-11) 2004. Wanty & Seal II eds. A.A Balkema Publishers.

The evolution of temperature and geochemistry

during the period 1993-2003 is shown on Figure 1.
The general trend is toward a decrease in temperature and TDS, the lake becoming more diluted with
time. The main geochemical change observed is a
decrease in Na+K chlorides, sulfates and Ca/Mg remaining almost constant during this period (Table
1).

Temperature C

1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

55
50
45
40
35
30
25

served 3 months before the 1990 eruption (Vandemeulebrouck et al. 2000).

The temperature increases observed in 1996 and
2001 were accompanied by rapid changes in lakewater composition with a net increase in Na+K chlorides, B and Li. These heating episodes could be the
consequence of the (re)opening of fractures at depth
leading to an increase in the contribution from a
deep hydrothermal aquifer. This evolution suggests
that two distinct hydrothermal systems are feeding
the crater lake. The first aquifer has neutral alkali
chloride waters enriched in B and Li typical of the
deepest part of hydrothermal systems and the second
shallow system is dominated by Ca-Mg sulfate waters.
Cl (mg/kg)
1400

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

Cl/SO4

TDS (g.kg )

Na + K (mg/kg)

1200

-1

200

1000
800

1993

600
400

Na/SO4

200
14

K/SO4
0
1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

Date
Figure 1. Temporal evolution of the temperature and chemistry
of the lake during 1993-2003. Arrows represent the start of a
heating episode. TDS is the Total Dissolved Solids.

B (mg/kg)

12
10

1993

8
6
4
2
0
200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

Cl (mg/kg)

With the exception of the 1993 data, there are

positive correlations between chloride and the alkali
metals or with B and Li but no correlation exists
with Ca or Mg (Figs. 2 and 3).
During the 10-year monitoring period, two notable events were observed in 1996 and 2001 when a
sudden increase in lake temperatures and bubbling
occurred. In both events, the lake temperature
peaked at 50C. Heating episodes, sometimes cyclic,
are relatively frequent in some crater lakes and reflect changes in the flow rate or in the enthalpy of
hot fluids entering the lake. These heating episodes
always represent an alarming situation because an
increasing lake temperature can be a precursory signal for the renewal of magmatic activity as was ob-

Figure 2. Evolution of chloride versus Na+K and boron during

1993-2003.

3 TEMPERATURE ESTIMATION OF THE

DEEP HYDROTHERMAL SYSTEM
The presence of a deep alkali chloride system suggests the use of Na-K and K-Mg as geoindicators.
Equilibrium temperatures for Na/K and K/Mg and
based on Giggenbach (1988) are presented in Figure
4.
The lake water compositions are far from the
equilibrium with a mineral assemblage as expected
for waters resulting from the mixing between two

Water-Rock interaction (WRI-11) 2004. Wanty & Seal II eds. A.A Balkema Publishers.

400

plinian eruption. The average log Na/K value around

0.9 could reflect equilibrium temperatures close to
250C in the deep hydrothermal system. On Figure
5, these Na/K equilibrium temperatures are compared to the Na-Li geothermometer of Verma &
Santoyo (1997) assuming a saline brine.

300

4 STABLE ISOTOPE COMPOSITIONS

600

200
200

300

400

500

600

700

Li (g/kg)

Log K2 / Mg (mg/kg)

Fu
ll

6
5

Im
ma
tur
e

Eq
ui l

ibr

100

150

200

250

350

TNa-K C

300

Figure 3. Evolution of Li versus Na during 1993-2003.

350
300
250

ium

200
150

wa
ter
s

-1

TK-Mg C

1
0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

Log Na / K (mg/kg)
Figure 4. .K-Mg and Na-K equilibrium temperatures.

8/1996

-2

100

2
0.0

The hydrogen (D/H) and oxygen (18O/16O) isotope

ratios also show changes clearly correlated with
changes in temperature or chloride contents. Figure
6 shows the strong positive correlation between
chloride and oxygen isotopic composition, except
for the 1993 data. The same positive trend exists between chloride and (D/H). This trend can be interpreted as a mixing line between two end members.
The first is represented by the deep neutral-chloride
fluids with a heavier isotopic composition and the
second by the shallow sulfate fluids with an isotopic
composition identical to meteoric fluids (spring).

-3

18O ()

Na (mg/kg)

500

1993
1/2001

-4
-5
5/2000

-6

Log Na / Li (moles/kg)

3.0

0
100

m
riu
b
i
il
qu
e
l
l
Fu

spring

-8

100

150

200

250

300

TNa-K C

350

-7

150

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

Cl (mg/kg)
Figure 6. Evolution of the 18O () isotopic composition versus chloride for the lake.

200

2.5

250

5 THERMAL REGIME

300
2.0

350
0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

TNa-Li C

Log Na / K (mg/kg)
Figure 5. Na-Li and Na-K equilibrium temperatures.

types of fluids. However, the Na/K remained almost

constant during the entire period despite a large decrease in their concentrations. This suggests that the
composition of the deep neutral-chloride hydrothermal system remained stable during this period. The
deep hydrothermal system most probably existed before the 1990 eruption and its composition was not
significantly affected by the relatively brief (1 hour)

Like many other active crater lakes, Kelud acts as a

calorimeter trapping the heat supplied into the lake
by subaqueous fumaroles and hot springs. A heat
and mass balance model was used to evaluate the
changes in the heat supplied to the lake by the
hydrothermal fluids. The model is derived from Stevenson (1992) and assumes that the lake is in steadystate equilibrium, i. e. that the lake temperature is
constrained by the balance between heat input and
output. Heat is derived from the enthalpy of hydrothermal fluids (brine + steam) entering and mixing
within the lake and from solar and atmospheric radiation (rad). Heat is lost by evaporation (evap),
conduction (cond), radiation (rad) and by the over-

Water-Rock interaction (WRI-11) 2004. Wanty & Seal II eds. A.A Balkema Publishers.

flow (over) of the hot waters through the drainage

tunnel. The lake surface radiated a thermal power estimated at 130 MW for the period 1993-1995 (Fig.
7), peaked to 250 MW in 1996 and 2001 when the
lake surface reached 50C and is today close to 80
MW.

canic edifice or are only accessible by well-drilling.

For Kelud, the 1990 eruption cleared the vent and
permitted the ascent of fluids from the deep neutralchloride hydrothermal system. Today, this channel
opens towards the surface, is progressively clogged
and the contribution from the deep Na/K chloride
fluids to the lake is decreasing.
REFERENCES

T air : 19C
T water : 42C

Eevap : 80 MW
-1
Mevap : 32 kg.s
Econd :15 MW
Erad : 7 MW

Eover : 29 MW
Mover : 300 kg.s-1
Cl : 33 T.day
-1
S : 6 T.day

-1

E brine + steam : 130 MW

Figure 7. Heat and mass balance model calculated for a lake

temperature of 42C.

6 CO2 DEGASSING
The CO2 flux emitted by the surface of the lake was
measured during 2001-2003 by IR spectrophotometry using a Drger Polytron. We modified the technique initially developed for soil gas flux monitoring
by Chiodini et al. (1996) in order to work on a crater
lake by using a floating accumulation chamber. During each field campaign, about 260 measurements
were obtained to cover the entire lake surface
(105,000 m2). Results show a decrease in the CO2
flux from 30,000 T/year in 2001 to 13,000 T/year in
2003 following the temperature decrease. These results compared to the CO2 lost as HCO3- by the
overflow of the lake waters through the drainage
tunnel show that most of the CO2 degasses from the
lake surface and escapes to the atmosphere. Only a
small fraction (<15%) is trapped and converted as
HCO3- in the lake waters.
7 CONCLUSION
In the case of Kelud, the lack of acidity and low
fluoride content suggest that the input of magmatic
volatiles to the hydrothermal system is low or limited. Only the samples collected in 1993 are slightly
different in Cl and stable isotopic compositions. This
could suggest that a small input of magmatic volatiles was still present 3 years after the eruption.
The emission of neutral-chloride fluids at the top
of a volcanic edifice is a relatively rare situation.
These neutral-chloride fluids are generally discharged at low elevation on the flanks of the vol-

Chiodini, G., Frondini, F. & Raco, B. 1996. Diffuse emission

of CO2 from the Fossa crater,Vulcano Island (Italy): Bull.
Volcanol. 58: 41-50.
Giggenbach, W.F. 1988. Geothermal solute equilibria. Derivation of Na-K-Mg-Ca geoindicators. Geochim. Cosmochim.
Acta 52: 2749-2765.
Stevenson, D.S. 1992. Heat transfer in active volcanoes: models of crater lake systems. PhD thesis, The Open University,
235p.
Vandemeulebrouck, J., Sabroux, J.C., Halbwachs, M., Surono,
Poussielgue, N., Grangeon, J. & Tabbagh, J. 2000. Hydroacoustic noise precursors of the 1990 eruption of Kelut
volcano, Indonesia. J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res. 97: 443456.
Verma, S.P. & Santoyo, E. 1997. New improved equations for
Na/K, Na/Li and SiO2 geothermometers by outlier detection
and rejection. J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res. 79: 9-23.