The Stromboli volcano (Aeolian Islands, Italy) erupted suddenly on 28 December 2002 after a 17‐year period of typically persistent but moderate eruptive activity, followed two days later by a tsunamigenic landslide on its NW flank (Sciara del Fuoco) felt in the coastal areas of southern Italy. Three continuous GPS stations were quickly deployed near the volcano's rim sampling at 1 Hz, with instantaneous positions computed relative to a fourth station on its flank. We report on two deformation episodes. A vent migration on 16–17 February 2003 caused significant displacements at only one site and contributed to the decision not to issue a warning of an impending tsunamigenic landslide. The second episode on 5 April 2003, a paroxystic explosion from the summit crater, allowed us to model, for the first time with geodetic data, the shallow magma chambers that give rise to Strombolian explosive activity.
Global Positioning System (CGPS) data from Mount Etna between May 2015 and September 2016 show intense inflation and a concurrent Slow Slip Event (SSE) from 11 December 2015 to 17 May 2016. In May 2016, an eruptive phase started from the summit craters, temporarily stopping the ongoing inflation. The CGPS data presented here give us the opportunity to determine (1) the source of the inflating body, (2) the strain rate parameters highlighting shear strain rate accumulating along NE Rift and S Rift, (3) the magnitude of the SSE, and (4) possible interaction between modeled sources and other flank structures through stress calculations. By analytical inversion, we find an inflating source 5.5 km under the summit (4.4 km below sea level) and flank slip in a fragmented shallow structure accommodating displacements equivalent to a magnitude M w 6.1 earthquake. These large displacements reflect a complex mechanism of rotations indicated by the inversion of CGPS data for strain rate parameters. At the scale of the volcano, these processes can be considered precursors of seismic activity in the eastern flank of the volcano but concentrated mainly on the northern boundary of the mobile eastern flank along the Pernicana Fault and in the area of the Timpe Fault System. Plain Language Summary In this manuscript we provide a detailed analysis of a period of inflation at Mount Etna. During this inflation, a slow slip event occurred on Mount Etna's eastern flank. We model both the inflation phase and the slow slip event to investigate the sources and the possible relationships between these sources and the volcanic and seismic activity at Mount Etna.
Continuous GPS (CGPS) data, collected at Mt. Etna between April 2012 and October 2013, clearly define inflation/deflation processes typically observed before/after an eruption onset. During the inflationary process from May to October 2013, a particular deformation pattern localised in the upper North Eastern sector of the volcano suggests that a magma intrusion had occurred a few km away from the axis of the summit craters, beneath the NE Rift system. This is the first time that this pattern has been recorded by CGPS data at Mt. Etna. We believe that this inflation process might have taken place periodically at Mt. Etna and might be associated with the intrusion of batches of magma that are separate from the main feeding system. We provide a model to explain this unusual behaviour and the eruptive regime of this rift zone, which is characterised by long periods of quiescence followed by often dangerous eruptions in which vents can open at low elevation and thus threaten the villages in this sector of the volcano.
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