Matthieu Kervyn

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• PhD in Geology
• Professor at Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Scoria cones are the most abundant type of volcano in the Solar System. They occur in every tectonic setting and often overlap with human populations, yet our ability to provide complete geochronology within volcanic fields remains limited. Appropriate geochronology underpins the reconstruction of size-frequency distribution and is a key input for...

Studying natural hazards in the context of human-induced landscape transformation is complex, especially in regions with limited information. The narratives of the elderly can play a role in filling these knowledge gaps at the multi-decadal timescale. Here, we build upon a citizen-based elderly approach to understanding natural hazard patterns and...

Studying natural hazards in the context of human-induced landscape transformation is complex, especially in regions with limited information. Elderly narratives can play a role in filling these knowledge gaps at the multi-decadal timescale. Here, we build upon a citizen-based elderly approach to understand natural hazard patterns and landscape tran...

Natural hazards have serious impacts worldwide on society, economy, and environment. In Vietnam, throughout the years, natural hazards have caused significant loss of lives as well as severe devastation to houses, crops, and transportation. This research presents a new approach to multi-hazard (floods and wildfires) exposure estimates using machine...

Climate change induces high and erratic rainfall which triggers landslides and floods. With the increasing population and food needs, households in mountainous, densely populated areas turn fragile ecosystems into farms. This exacerbates landslide and flood risks requiring Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) measures. Tree planting and diversion channels...

Impacts induced by natural hazards are increasing globally. Some of these hazards, such as volcanic eruptions, cannot be prevented. Thereby, mitigating impacts is crucial, especially in densely populated areas, like in Goma city in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, which is exposed to volcanic threats from Nyiragongo. Mitigation requires th...

Composite volcanoes are dynamic landforms that require comprehensive morphological analysis to understand their formation, degradation and associated controlling processes. Establishing Digital Elevation Model (DEM) source, spatial resolution and edifice delineation method are the first essential steps to quantify volcano morphometry. The delineati...

The erosional state of a landscape is often assessed through a series of metrics that quantify the morphology of drainage basins and divides. Such metrics have been well explored in tectonically active environments to evaluate the role of different processes in sculpting topography, yet relatively few works have applied these analyses to radial lan...

This article is an accidental duplication of an article that has already been published, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172841.

This study investigates the localities of low and high F⁻ groundwaters in the aquifer system on the flanks of Mount Meru to come up with guidelines to provide groundwater that can be used for drinking water supply without health impacts on the population. Our study focuses on parts of the flanks which were only partially or not at all covered by pr...

Assessing volcanic hazards in locations exposed to multiple central volcanoes requires to consider multiple potential eruption sources and their respective characteristics. While this is common practice in ashfall hazard assessment, this is generally not considered for topography-controlled volcanic flow processes. Yet, in volcanic areas with close...

Estimating groundwater recharge, direct runoff and baseflow is essential for understanding groundwater resource availability and managing groundwater systems. This study estimates groundwater recharge, direct runoff and baseflow on two slopes of Mount Meru: the northern and southern slopes using the water-table fluctuation (WTF) method and baseflow...

Gullies experience varying states of activity during their life cycle. For example, their highest growth rates are commonly observed in the period that follows their initiation, whereas they are less active when reaching stability. Understanding the environmental conditions under which gullies initiate, expand, and stabilize is therefore vital to m...

Impacts of natural hazards are on an increase globally. To mitigate these impacts, sound disaster risk reduction strategies must rely on comprehensive inventory of natural hazards. However, to date, many regions worldwide still suffer from a dearth of information. The goal of our research is to assess how, with limited means and several methods, en...

The Bora-Baricha-Tullu Moye (BBTM) volcanic complex is located in a transition zone between the central and northern sectors of the Main Ethiopian Rift where tectonic and volcanic features show complex interplays. We mapped and characterized volcanic and tectonic features using high-resolution digital elevation models and performed morphometric and...

The erosional state of a landscape is often assessed through a series of metrics that quantify the morphology of drainage basins and divides. Such metrics have been well-explored in tectonically-active environments to evaluate the role of different processes in sculpting topography, yet relatively few works have applied these analyses to radial lan...

Active volcanic craters are highly dynamic geological features that undergo morphological changes on a broad range of spatial and temporal scales. Such changes have implications for the stability of the edifice, the eruptive style and the associated hazards. However, monitoring the morphological evolution of active craters at high spatial resolutio...

Key advantages of modelling landslide susceptibility at the level of slope units—homogeneous landscape elements bound by drainage and divide lines—instead of grid cells have recently been highlighted. However, there has been limited investigation into the sensitivity of a slope unit landslide susceptibility approach to the characteristics of the la...

Bangladesh is renowned in disaster risk reduction (DRR) for active involvement of community people and local disaster management institutions in DRR activities. Our study aimed to describe the disaster risk management (DRM) institutions and assess their functioning in six coastal unions across the three coastal zones of Bangladesh. Both qualitative...

Gullies experience varying states of activity during their life cycle. For example, their highest growth rates are commonly observed in the period that follows their initiation, whereas they are less active when reaching stability. Understanding the environmental conditions under which gullies initiate, expand, and stabilize is therefore vital to m...

Smallholder farmers’ vulnerability to climate-related disasters in Sub-Saharan Africa is increasing, partly due to land-use changes and poor adoption behavior for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) measures. Such behavior can be explained by poor beliefs about DRR measures due to limited access to information. Agricultural extension workers are increasi...

Risk perception is an essential element to consider for effective risk management at the time of eruption, especially in densely populated cities close to volcanoes like Goma in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is highly exposed to volcanic hazards from Nyiragongo. The perception of volcanic risk involves the processes of col...

Session: From shape to process: geomorphology as a tool to unravel volcanic processes Abstract: Composite volcanoes have diverse morphologies due to their inextricably intertwined eruption, intrusion, and degradation histories. Surface runoff, a major erosional process involved in volcanic degradation, is dominantly controlled by both climatic, l...

Exposure to fine-grained particulate matter (sub-10 μm, i.e., PM10) is associated with adverse health effects. Compared to explosive eruptions, limited studies have been conducted on the products of low explosivity events (e.g., lava fountains, strombolian eruptions) as they generally generate rather coarsegrained deposits. Yet, reworking of tephra...

Abstract: Composite volcanoes have diverse morphologies due to their inextricably intertwined eruption, intrusion, and degradation histories. Surface runoff, a major erosional process involved in volcanic degradation, is dominantly controlled by both climatic, lithologic, and topographic factors. Analogue models offer the opportunity to examine rai...

Volcanoes with frequent explosive eruptions are highly dynamic geological features, displaying morphological variations on a broad range of timescales (from hours to years). Morphological changes at the vent can significantly influence the resulting volcanic activity’s properties, such as eruption type and magnitude. Documenting the morphological e...

The role of indigenous knowledge in increasing context specificity and exposing blind spots in scientific understanding is widely evidenced in disaster studies. This paper aims to structure the processes that shape indigenous knowledge production and its optimization using the case of floods. An inductive analytical approach is applied among ripari...

The movement of large, slow-moving, deep-seated landslides is regulated principally by changes in pore-water pressure in the slope. In urban areas, drastic reorganization of the surface and subsurface hydrology—for example, associated with roads, housings or storm drainage—may alter the subsurface hydrology and ultimately the slope stability. Yet o...

Study region Mount Meru located in Northern Tanzania. Study focus Groundwater level monitoring is essential for uncovering the spatial-temporal variation of groundwater levels in a studied aquifer, helping discussions on the sustainable use and management of groundwater resources. This study analyses the spatial and temporal variability of groundw...

Classical mechanisms of volcanic eruptions mostly involve pressure buildup and magma ascent towards the surface1. Such processes produce geophysical and geochemical signals that may be detected and interpreted as eruption precursors1–3. On 22 May 2021, Mount Nyiragongo (Democratic Republic of the Congo), an open-vent volcano with a persistent lava...

Understanding risk perception and factors controlling the willingness to implement DRR actions is essential for effective crisis management, especially in densely populated cities close to volcanoes, like Goma in the East of the DRC. Willingness to implement DRR actions is assumed to be influenced by risk perception, but also by the individual eval...

The willingness to implement risk protective measures (protection motivation) differs between individuals and informing people at risk about the risk they face may not be sufficient to generalize the implementation of protective measures. Therefore, an assessment of the individual psychological appraisal of the risk (threat appraisal) and of the ri...

Risk perception is an essential element to consider for effective risk management at time of eruption. This is especially the case in densely populated cities close to volcanoes like Goma in the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo highly exposed to volcanic hazards from Nyiragongo. The perception of volcanic risk involves the processes of coll...

Understanding of the aquifer structure and its hydraulic properties provides comprehensive knowledge for proper groundwater utilisation and management. This study delineated the aquifer structure using litho-hydrostratigraphical cross-sections, and estimated the hydraulic parameters using single well pumping tests for various locations on and aroun...

Like many other lakes in the world, the interconnected Abaya and Chamo lakes in the Southern Main Ethiopian Rift are affected by rapid sediment accumulation. Although land degradation is a well-known issue in this part of the African continent, the main sediment sources, their spatial distribution and interaction in the Abaya–Chamo lakes’ basin hav...

Like many other lakes in the world, the interconnected Abaya and Chamo lakes in the Southern Main Ethiopian Rift are affected by rapid sediment accumulation. Although land degradation is a well-known issue in this part of the African continent, the main sediment sources, their spatial distribution and interaction in the Abaya–Chamo lakes’ basin hav...

The way people perceive the volcanic risk and how this leads them to take protective measures is an essential topic in volcanology. We apply the Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) to analyse the threat and coping appraisal of individuals living at different distance ranges from Volcán de Colima, Mexico. We assessed respondents’ perceived vulnerabil...

Ol Doinyo Lengaï (OL) in north Tanzania is the only active volcano in the world emitting natrocarbonatite lavas. This stratovolcano (2962 m a.s.l) is mostly characterized by effusive lava emissions since 1983. However, on the 4th of September 2007, explosive events marked the beginning of a new eruptive style that lasted until April 2008. This new...

A water quality problem exists in populated areas along the flanks of Mt. Meru in northern Tanzania, with excessively high fluoride (F-) concentrations exceeding the WHO drinking water standards (1.5 mg/L). Little is known about the potential sources of F-among the various rocks types forming the Meru aquifers. Nineteen samples (Debris avalanche de...

About 350 maar craters, tuff rings, and tuff cones are spread along the Manyara rift escarpment, and clustered around the Hanang and Kwahara volcanoes in North Tanzania. They lie in the East African Rift, an active extensional setting, where the magma composition is moderately to highly alkaline and carbonate-rich. We present newly-collected deposi...

The city of Goma is located in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. With around one million inhabitants, it is built on lava flows, 15 km south of the active Nyiragongo volcano. Historically, the town was affected twice by eruptions, in 1977 and 2002 and severe destructions were reported. At that time, no volcanic risk preparedne...

Spatio-temporal inventory of natural hazards is a challenging task especially in rural or remote areas in the Global South where data collection at regional scale is difficult. Citizen science, i.e., involvement of no-experts in collecting information and co-creation of knowledge with experts to solve societal and environmental problems, has been s...

The added value of indigenous practices for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) is increasingly stressed by scholars. Yet this fails to translate into practical application as these scholars miss a clear understanding of the processes that shape indigenous DRR. Based on a case of floods in the Rwenzori (Uganda), in this study, the aimed is to conceptuali...

The long-term (ka to ma) degradation of a volcanic edifice is controlled by both regional (e.g., climate, tectonics) and local factors (e.g., original morphology, lithology), resulting in both long-lasting weathering and river incision and short-term hazardous events, such as flank collapses and lahars. Trends among the morphometry of stratovolcano...

The integration of indigenous knowledge into understanding disasters from natural hazards is hitherto hampered by the limited conceptualization of the process that shapes indigenous knowing. This study proposed a framework, structuring the processes that shape indigenous knowledge on disaster risk. Bearing that framework in mind, the evolution of d...

Efforts in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) are widely geared towards integrating indigenous knowledge and science. Several conceptual frameworks have thus evolved towards co-creating knowledge and co-designing DRR measures from the standpoint of the communities-at-risk. This is claimed to foster optimization and sustainability of measures. This study...

Volcano morphology is the result of complex interactions between constructive and destructive phases. The dynamics of eruptive, intrusive and erosive processes are reflected in the shapes of volcanoes today. Quantifying the morphology and degradation patterns of composite volcanoes can provide new insights into the evolution of these landforms and...

This study investigates the localities of low and high F⁻ groundwaters in the aquifer system on the flanks of Mount Meru to come up with guidelines to provide groundwater that can be used for drinking water supply without health impacts on the population. Our study focuses on parts of the flanks which were only partially or not at all covered by pr...

The population of the semi-arid areas of the countries in the East African Rift Valley (EARV) is faced with serious problems associated with the availability and the quality of the drinking water. In these areas, the drinking water supply largely relies on groundwater characterised by elevated fluoride concentration (> 1.5 mg/L), resulting from int...

Characterisation of the aquifer and determination of its hydraulic properties is crucial for providing comprehensive knowledge for proper groundwater utilisation and management. This study delineates the aquifer structure using litho-hydrostratigraphy cross-sections and estimates the hydraulic parameters using single well pumping tests. The study f...

This study characterises high-fluoride groundwater in the aquifer system on the flanks of Mount Meru, focusing on parts of the flanks that were only partially or not at all covered by previous research. Additionally, we analyse the impact of rainwater recharge on groundwater chemistry by monitoring spring discharges during water sampling. The resul...

This study characterises high-fluoride groundwater in the aquifer system on the flanks of Mount Meru, focusing on parts of the flanks that were only partially or not at all covered by previous research. Additionally, we analyse the impact of rainwater recharge on groundwater chemistry by monitoring spring discharges during water sampling. The resul...

The (inter)national agenda continues to frame Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in hierarchies where top-down actors (scientists and policymakers) define interventions for communities-at-risk. To make this process context-specific and people-centered, especially for low-income economies, incorporating indigenous knowledge is increasingly emphasized. Th...

Risk management is used in societies to mitigate the potentially dramatic effects of natural hazards. Local authorities and managers use different indicators in elaborating rescue and urbanism plans, which are not always efficient in reducing impact in the time of the crisis. This highlights society’s vulnerability in the particular context of glob...

Slow-moving landslides exhibit persistent but non-uniform motion at low rates which makes them exceptional natural laboratories to study the mechanisms that control the dynamics of unstable hillslopes. Here we leverage 4.5+ years of satellite-based radar and optical remote sensing data to quantify the kinematics of a slow-moving landslide in the tr...

Mt. Meru, in the northern Tanzania divergence zone within the East African Rift System, is a historically active volcano, with its last eruption in 1910 CE. The flank deposits of Meru are dominated by lava flows, debris avalanche deposits as well as major pyroclastic formations indicative of Plinian-style eruptions. The stratigraphy, spatial extent...

Granular materials are a useful analogue for the Earth's crust in laboratory models of deformation. Constraining their mechanical properties is critical for such model's scaling and interpretation. Much information exists about monomineralic granular materials, such as quartz sand, but the mechanical characteristics of bimineralic mixtures, such as...

Lake Abaya and Lake Chamo are located within the rift valley that cuts across eastern Ethiopia. Severe soil erosion, predominantly gully erosion in the midlands and highlands, and flash flooding along rivers in the lowlands resulted in sediment and nutrient accumulation in the rift lakes. In this study, conducted in four river catchments on the Wes...

Exposure to volcanic ash is a long-standing health concern for people living near active volcanoes and in distal urban areas. During transport and deposition, ash is subjected to various physicochemical processes that may change its surface composition and, consequently, bioreactivity. One such process is the interaction with anthropogenic pollutan...

Effective disaster risk reduction (DRR) presupposes awareness among key stakeholders on the causal factors that exacerbate disaster risks as well as a feeling of ownership over proposed DRR measures. Yet, the prevailing top-down communication of risk and the expert-centered knowledge have a limited impact in bringing significant positive change. Se...

Volcanoes are extremely dynamic landforms. They grow by the accumulation of eruptive products and intrusions and degrade by a range of erosion processes such as superficial runoff, chemical and physical weathering, fluvial and glacial incision, and mass movements. In this study, we aim at documenting and quantifying the morphology of natural compos...

The Philippine Island Arc has a large number of volcanoes with diverse morphologies, making it an ideal location to study the factors controlling the morphology and spatial distribution of island arc volcanoes. We have identified 731 volcanic edifices using the SRTM 30 m digital elevation models, and computed their quantitative morphology using the...

Granular materials are a useful analogue for the Earth’s crust in laboratory models of deformation. Constraining their mechanical properties is critical for such model’s scaling and interpretation. Much information exists about monomineralic granular materials, such as quartz sand, but the mechanical characteristics of bimineralic mixtures, such as...

Freshly erupted volcanic ash contains a range of soluble elements, some of which can generate harmful effects in living cells and are considered potentially toxic elements (PTEs). This work investigates the leaching dynamics of ash-associated PTEs in order to optimize a method for volcanic ash respiratory hazard assessment. Using three pristine (un...

People’s vulnerability, exposure and capacity are key components of a risk assessment. Index-based methodologies have proved useful to document spatial variation in risk-controlling factors. The objective of this study is to propose a methodology to derive quantitative indicators of household vulnerability, exposure and capacity to assess household...

The continued significant impacts of disasters from natural hazards raise questions regarding the epistemic commensurability of measures recommended to achieve substantial disaster risk reduction. Using the case of Flood Risk Reduction (FRR), this study critically reviews key scientific literature on the epistemic foundations of the indigenous, sci...

now published: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350742630_Assessing_the_biological_reactivity_of_organic_compounds_on_volcanic_ash_implications_for_human_health_hazard AGU abstract: Volcanic ash eruptions may severely impact population living near an active volcano and in distal urban areas and are a cause of continuous health concern. Dur...

The population resident in areas of the East African Rift system (EARS) is faced with serious problems associated with the availability and the quality of the drinking water. Drinking water supply largely relies on the groundwater wells and springs and is characterised by elevated fluoride concentration (> 1.5 mg/L), resulting from the interactions...

As space-based Earth observations are delivering a growing amount and variety of data, the potential of this information to better support disaster risk management is coming into increased scrutiny. Disaster risk management actions are commonly divided into the different steps of the disaster management cycle, which include: prevention, to minimize...

In the Arusha volcanic region in northern Tanzania, within the eastern branch of the East African Rift, water shortage is common and much of the surface water carries unacceptable levels of dissolved fluoride; hence groundwater is the main source of drinking water. Unfortunately, the quality of groundwater in this region is also very poor due to a h...

In the Arusha volcanic region in northern Tanzania, within the eastern branch of the East African Rift, water shortage is common and much of the surface water carries unacceptable levels of dissolved fluoride; hence groundwater is the main source of drinking water. Unfortunately, the quality of groundwater in this region is also very poor due to a h...

Lahars impose significant secondary hazards on highly populated volcanic islands by remobilizing volcanic ash deposits. Karthala, on Grande Comore Island, is a relatively young and poorly eroded basaltic shield volcano with sporadic occurrence of ash-forming phreatic eruptions. In 2005, two mildly explosive episodes emplaced tephra blankets on the...

The recognized added value of indigenous practices continues to support arguments for integrating indigenous knowledge into Flood Risk Reduction (FRR). This, however, remains hampered by the limited understanding of the context of indigenous FRR. This study investigates the long recorded indigenous FRR practices in the Rwenzori (Uganda) over the la...

Information about resettlement preferences is an important prerequisite for the success of voluntary resettlement as a disaster risk reduction strategy. Yet, even in conditions where individual preferences for resettlement are met, resettlement programs may fail. In this study, we confront individual preferences for resettlement with obstacles to r...

Two end‐member conceptual models are used to describe deformation of the Earth's crust induced by magma intrusion. “Mode I” fracturing assumes tensile, or opening‐mode, elastic deformation, while “Mode II” fracturing assumes plastic shear‐mode deformation around a viscous indenter. Field observations of both mechanisms exist, but it remains unclear...

Volcanoes display diverse morphologies as a result of the complex interplay of several constructive and destructive processes. Scaled analogue models offer a tool to isolate and characterize the different processes. Here, we investigate the interplay between volcano growth and deformation caused by an underlying strike-slip fault through simple ana...

This data set reports on the methodologies and results of geochemical analysis carried out on samples of magmatic rock, calcite and sedimentary rocks of Hovedoya Island, Oslo fjord, Norway, in the framework of the publication by Poppe et al. (2020; Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems; https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GC008685). The major and trace elem...

Regional landslide inventories are often prepared by several different experts, using a variety of data sources. This can result in a combination of polygon and point landslide data, characterized by different meanings, uncertainties and levels of reliability. The propagation of uncertainties due to such heterogeneous data is a relevant issue in st...

Nyiragongo (Democratic Republic of Congo) erupts fluid, fast-moving, foidite lavas. Nearby Nyamuragira frequently erupts less mobile tephrite lavas. Nyamuragira flows rarely threaten urbanized areas, but Nyiragongo flows threaten Goma (pop. ~900,000) and surrounding villages, resulting in fatalities in 1977 and 2002. We report new laboratory measur...

Goma city, at the eastern border of DRCongo, is highly exposed to natural hazards, especially from Nyiragongo volcano, located directly North of it. In January 2002, the city centre of Goma was devastated by lava flows and several thousands of people were temporarily displaced. Defining and quantifying population vulnerability to natural hazards, a...

Gully erosion is a process whereby runoff water concentrates over short periods and removes the soil, sometimes to considerable depths (Poesen et al., 2003). Landslides include a range of processes by which slope material is displaced under the force of gravity (Hungr et al., 2014). Gullies and landslides play an essential role in landscape evoluti...

Despite recognition that traditional indigenous capacities could guide effective Flood Risk Management (FRM) in developing communities, documenting and validating those capacities remain a challenge. Contributing to addressing this challenge, this study reconstructs flood risk and FRM of rural communities in Uganda over the last decades. The study...