Deep fluid transfer evidenced by surface deformation during the 2014–2015 unrest at Piton de la Fournaise volcano

2016

International audience; Identifying the onset of volcano unrest and providing an unequivocal identification of volcano reawakening remain challenging problems in volcanology. At Piton de la Fournaise, renewal of eruptive activity in 2014–2015, after 41 months of quiescence and deflation, was associated with long-term continuous edifice inflation measured by GNSS. Inflation started on June 9, 2014, and its rate progressively increased through 2015. Inflation onset was rapidly followed by an eruption on June 20–21, 2014, showing that volcano reactivation can be extremely fast, even after long non-eruptive phases. This short-lived eruption involved a shallow source (1.3–1.9 km depth below the …