Crustal earthquake ruptures tend to initiate near fluid-rich zones. However, it is relatively unknown whether fluid-rich zones can further promote or arrest these ruptures. We image the electrical resistivity structure around the focal area of the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake sequence by using 200 sites broadband magnetotelluric data, and discuss its quantitative relationship to earthquake initiation, growth, and arrest processes. The ruptures that initiated along the outer edge of the low-resistivity fluid-rich zones (< 30 Ωm) tended to become large earthquakes, whereas those that initiated either distal to or within the fluid-rich zones did not. The ruptures were arrested by high-temperature (> 400 °C) fluid-rich zones, whereas shallower low-temperature (200–400 °C) fluid-rich zones either promoted or arrested the ruptures. These results suggest that the distribution of mid-crustal fluids contributes to the initiation, growth, and arrest of crustal earthquakes. The pre-failure pressure/temperature gradient (spatial difference) of the pore fluids may contribute to the rupture initiation, propagation, and arrest.
The Iwo-yama volcano of the Kirishima Volcanic Complex in Japan had a small phreatic eruption in April 2018, which formed multiple vents. The activity was recorded by two infrasound sensors and two monitoring cameras which had been installed within 1 km of the vents. This study identified infrasonic signals from the multiple vents by a cross-correlation analysis between the two infrasound sensors. The analysis successfully revealed the signals from two main eruption craters and constrained the infrasound onsets at the individual vents in the two craters. We combined the results with the images from the cameras and reconstructed the sequence of the small phreatic eruption of Iwo-yama. Notably, the intense eruption accompanying remarkable infrasound delayed several hours to the eruption onset at each of the two craters. This study provides a sequence of the activities of the multiple vents in a phreatic eruption, which will be useful for understanding the phreatic eruption mechanism and hazard assessments.
It is difficult to forecast phreatic eruptions because they are often characterised by an abrupt onset at shallow depths beneath volcanoes. Here we show that temporal changes in the tilt, tremor, and horizontal electric field have occurred repeatedly near the vent of a small phreatic eruption at Iwo-Yama, Kirishima Volcanic Complex, Japan. Such geophysical changes were observed 13 times, with one of these events occurring immediately before the onset of the 2018 phreatic eruption. These observations suggest that shallow hydrothermal intrusions, which are observed as tilt changes with tremors, commonly induce near-surface cold groundwater flow, which is observed as electric-field changes. Near-surface groundwater flows towards the active vent, potentially inhibiting a phreatic eruption. However, explosive phreatic eruptions occur when the intrusion is shallow and cold groundwater flow is depleted. The near-surface groundwater is key in controlling the occurrence of phreatic eruptions and can be monitored using electric-field measurements.
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