0000000000270513
AUTHOR
L. De Siena
Understanding seismic path biases and magmatic activity at Mount St Helens volcano before its 2004 eruption
SUMMARY In volcanoes, topography, shallow heterogeneity and even shallow morphology can substantially modify seismic coda signals. Coda waves are an essential tool to monitor eruption dynamics and model volcanic structures jointly and independently from velocity anomalies: it is thus fundamental to test their spatial sensitivity to seismic path effects. Here, we apply the Multiple Lapse Time Window Analysis (MLTWA) to measure the relative importance of scattering attenuation vs absorption at Mount St Helens volcano before its 2004 eruption. The results show the characteristic dominance of scattering attenuation in volcanoes at lower frequencies (3–6 Hz), while absorption is the primary atte…
Geomorphology and surface geology of Mount St. Helens volcano
Mount St. Helens is a stratovolcano of the Cascadia volcanic arc well known worldwide for its volcanic collapse and eruption in 1980, which caused considerable destruction and changed the geomorphology of the volcano and of a considerable portion of its surroundings. This paper presents a geomorphology and surface-geology map of both the wider Mount St. Helens, Washington (USA), at the 1:50,000 scale, and of its crater, at the 1:25,000 scale. The map is obtained from the interpretation of two high-resolution, air-borne acquired, digital terrain models, LiDAR dataset, combined with Google Earth imaging, geological information and field surveys. The geomorphology of the area is largely domina…
3-D attenuation image of fluid storage and tectonic interactions across the Pollino fault network
SUMMARYThe Pollino range is a region of slow deformation where earthquakes generally nucleate on low-angle normal faults. Recent studies have mapped fault structures and identified fluid-related dynamics responsible for historical and recent seismicity in the area. Here, we apply the coda-normalization method at multiple frequencies and scales to image the 3-D P-wave attenuation (QP) properties of its slowly deforming fault network. The wide-scale average attenuation properties of the Pollino range are typical for a stable continental block, with a dependence of QP on frequency of $Q_\mathrm{ P}^{-1}=(0.0011\pm 0.0008) f^{(0.36\pm 0.32)}$. Using only waveforms comprised in the area of seism…
Volcanic structures investigation through SAR and seismic interferometric methods: The 2011-2013 Campi Flegrei unrest episode
Observations from satellites provide high-resolution images of ground deformation allowing to infer deformation sources by developing advanced modeling of magma ascent and intrusion processes. Nevertheless, such models can be strongly biased without a precise model of the internal structure of the volcano. In this study, we jointly exploited two interferometric techniques to interpret the 2011–2013 unrest at Campi Flegrei caldera (CFc). The first is the Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) technique, which provides highly-resolved spatial and temporal images of ground deformation. The second is the Ambient Noise Tomography (ANT), which images subsurface structures, providing the…
A record of seafloor methane seepage across the last 150 million years
<p>Methane seepage at the seafloor is a source of carbon in the marine environment and has long been recognized as an important window into the deep geo-, hydro-, and bio-spheres. However, the processes and temporal patterns of natural methane emission over multi-million-year time scales are still poorly understood. The microbially-mediated methane oxidation leads to the precipitation of authigenic carbonate minerals within subseafloor sediments, thus providing a potentially extensive record of past methane emission. In this study, we used data on methane-derived authigenic carbonates to build a proxy time series of seafloor methane emission over the last 150 My. We quantitat…