Rate of lateral magma transport in the Earth’s crust beneath submarine volcanic arcs derived from earthquake swarm analysis

Abstract:

This contribution deals with subduction-related submarine magmatism. We are offering a tool to contribute to delimitation of domains of current magma unrest at convergent plate margins and to understand better the behavior of magma in the lithospheric wedge above the subducting slab: a detailed analysis of teleseismic earthquake occurrence. A specific seismicity pattern has been observed beneath submarine portions of several volcanic arcs at convergent plate margins (Andaman Sea region, southern Ryukyu area). We have found three arguments that allowed us to interpret such a seismicity pattern as a magma-driven process: (i) clustering of medium-size earthquakes (M~5) in space and time in shallow earthquake swarms; (ii) rapid migration of seismic activity during the swarms (comparison of epicentral maps of individual stages of the swarm development showed consistently that earthquake epicenters migrate laterally at a rate of several hundred meters per hour); (iii) correlation of epicentral zones of the swarms with distinct seamounts and submarine ridges (current seismically active intrusions probably propagate along plumbing systems that served as conduits of magma to the surface in the past). The repeated occurrence of relatively strong, teleseismically recorded earthquake swarms thus probably reflects fluid and/or magma ascent through the plumbing system of the volcanic arc, points to brittle character of the lithospheric wedge at respective depths and favors the studied areas – the Andaman Sea region and the southern Ryukyu area – to be potential sites of submarine volcanic activity.. The study documents high accuracy of hypocenter parameter determinations published by data centers such as ISC and NEIC USGS, and the usefulness of the EHB relocation procedure.