Focal Mechanisms for Local Earthquakes within a Rapidly Deforming Rhyolitic Magma System, Laguna del Maule, Chile

Abstract:

Large shallow rhyolitic magma systems like the one underlying the Laguna del Maule Volcanic Field (LdM) atop the Southern Andes, Chile, that comprises the largest concentration of rhyolitic lava and tephra younger than 20 ka at earth's surface, are capable of producing modest to very large explosive eruptions. Moreover, LdM is currently exhibiting magma migration, reservoir growth, and crustal deformation at rates higher than any volcano that is not actively erupting. The long-term build-up of a large silicic magmatic system toward an eruption has yet to be monitored, therefore, precursory phenomena are poorly understood. In January of 2015, 12 broadband, 3-component seismometers were installed at LdM to detect local microearthquakes and tele-seismic events with the goals of determining the migration paths of fluids as well as the boundaries of the magma chamber beneath LdM. These stations complement the 6 permanent stations installed by the Southern Andes Volcano Observatory in 2011. Focal mechanisms were calculated using FOCMEC (Snoke et al., 1984) and P-wave first motions for local events occurring between January and March of 2015 using these 18 broadband stations. Results from six of the largest local events indicate a mixture of normal and reverse faulting at shallow (<10 km) depths surrounding the lake. This may be associated with the opening of fractures to accommodate rising magma in the subsurface and/or stresses induced by the rapid deformation. Two of these events occurred near the center of maximum deformation where seismic swarms have previously been identified. Focal mechanisms from smaller magnitude events will be calculated to better delineate subsurface structure. Source mechanisms will be refined using P-S amplitude ratios and full waveform inversion.