Mapping tremor at Kīlauea volcano

Abstract:

Mapping the magma pathway geometry beneath active volcanoes is vital to providing an understanding of how each system works, what drives its dynamics and what eventually controls the surface expression of volcanism. Seismicity can provide clues about the subsurface plumbing, but the seismic catalog is often incomplete. The broad spectrum of seismic phenomena at volcanoes, from discrete earthquakes to the continuous hum of tremor, hampers event identification, and there are no standard seismological tools to resolve this problem. Even at Kīlauea, one of the best-instrumented and most studied volcanoes in the world, a detailed source geometry remains elusive. Here we present the first map of a volcano’s deep plumbing system by taking a new approach to seismic monitoring. Using envelope cross-correlation, we systematically scan through 2.5 years of continuous seismic data to identify and locate thousands of undocumented volcanic sources, which we interpret to map the path of magma ascent from the deep mantle, offshore south of the Big Island, to the lava lake in Kīlauea’s crater. The results offer a fundamental insight into the source of Kīlauea volcanism and generate a baseline understanding that increases our ability to interpret pre- and co-eruptive observations.