Mass Intrusion at Mount St. Helens (WA) From Temporal Gravity Variations

Abstract:

Repeated high-precision gravity measurements made at Mount St. Helens (WA) have revealed systematic temporal variations in the gravity field several years after the end of the 2004-2008 dome-building eruption. Changes in gravity with respect to a stable reference station 36 km NW of the volcano were measured at 10 sites on the volcanic edifice and at 4 sites far afield (10 to 36 km) from the summit in August 2010, August 2012 and August 2014. After simulating and removing the gravity signal associated with changes in mass of the crater glacier, the local hydrothermal aquifer, and vertical deformation, the residual gravity field observed at sites near the volcano’s summit significantly increased with respect to the stable reference site during 2010–2012 (maximum change 48 ± 15 mgal). No significant change was measured during 2012-2014. The pattern of gravity increase is radially symmetrical, with a half-width of about 2.5 km and a point of maximum change centered at the 2004-2008 lava dome. Forward modeling of residual gravity data using the same source geometry, depth, and location as that inferred from geodetic data (a spheroidal source centered 7.5 km beneath the 2004-2008 dome) indicates a mass increase rate of the order of 10¹¹ kg/year. For a reasonable magma density (~2250 kg/m³), the volume rate of magma intrusion beneath the summit region inferred from gravity (~ 0.1 km³/yr) greatly exceeds the volume inferred from inversion of geodetic data (0.001 km³/yr between 2008-2011), suggesting that either magma compressibility or other processes are important aspects of magma storage at Mount St. Helens, or that the data argue for a different source.