Using Conceptual Models to Relate Multiparameter Satellite Data to Subsurface Volcanic Processes in Latin America

Abstract

Satellite data have been extensively used to identify volcanic behavior. However, the physical subsurface processes causing any individual manifestation of activity can be ambiguous. We propose a classification scheme for the cause of unrest that simultaneously considers three multiparameter satellite observations. The scheme is based on characteristics of the volcanic system (open, closed, and eruptive) and unrest mechanisms (intrusion, evolution, and withdrawal) occurring at shallow depths in the volcanic system. We applied these models to satellite observations acquired at 47 of the most active volcanoes in Latin America. Of the volcanoes studied, 44 had a robust enough dataset for classification and were clustered into 4 groups and 10 subgroups with common behavioral characteristics. By identifying that these volcanoes can be clustered into a number of groupings significantly less than the number of volcanoes, we have demonstrated that commonalities in behavior patterns exist among diverse volcanic systems. Identifying volcanoes with similar characteristics underpins the use of past observations at one volcano to forecast activity at another and diverges from typical volcanic groupings, which are focused on geologic parameters (i.e., composition, volcano type, and tectonic setting). Based on satellite data alone, we have identified preeruptive intrusion prior to 15 eruptions at 12 different volcanoes, magma evolution prior to 18 eruptions at 13 volcanoes, and magma withdrawal at 3 eruptions and 3 volcanoes. Improvements to the spatial and temporal resolution are needed to make these relations robust. This classification scheme provides a framework for future automated clustering of volcanoes.

Shallow magma convection evidenced by excess degassing and thermal radiation during the dome-forming Sabancaya eruption (2012–2020)

“…A fundamental challenge of volcanic monitoring is, therefore, to better understand the processes at the origin of the monitored parameters and recognize mechanisms or shortto intermediate-term conditions that can lead to lava dome failure and/or transition between eruptive styles (Pallister and McNutt, 2015;Moussallam et al, 2021). For this purpose, the correlation between acquired data and eruptive/ degassing processes is fundamental, although not always trivial because it is dependent on both the number of monitored parameters and the conceptual model used to interpret these data (Pallister and McNutt, 2015;Reath et al, 2020).…”

Magmatic Processes in the East African Rift System: Insights From a 2015–2020 Sentinel‐1 InSAR Survey

“…Satellite observations, and especially radar interferometry (InSAR), can routinely produce ground displacements maps over large areas and therefore are well‐suited for carrying out surveys of magmatic systems on the scale of entire plate boundaries. Such surveys provide a snapshot of the dynamics of magmatic systems and their eruptive cycles (Delgado et al., 2016; Lu & Dzurisin, 2014; Pyle et al., 2013; Reath et al., 2020).…”

Storage and Evolution of Laguna del Maule Rhyolites: Insight From Volatile and Trace Element Contents in Melt Inclusions

“…Diffusion chronometry suggests that relatively cool, long‐lived reservoirs may be destabilized rapidly by mafic recharge to produce rhyolitic eruptions on time scales of only months to centuries (Andersen et al, 2017, 2018; Druitt et al, 2012; Singer et al, 2016; Till et al, 2015; Wark et al, 2007). How these magma reservoirs are incubated over thousands of years and grow to large volumes in the shallow crust, and whether magma injection or fluid pressurization are responsible for destabilization, unrest, and eruption, is a topic of great interest (e.g., Andersen et al, 2017; Barboni et al, 2016; Gelman et al, 2013; Huber et al, 2019; Jackson et al, 2018; Pritchard et al, 2019; Reath et al, 2020; Rubin et al, 2017; Till et al, 2015). A case has been made for a deep origin of rhyolite by Annen et al (2006); however, another explanation is that the addition of relatively hot, recharge magma to the base of crystal‐rich mush stored in the upper crust incubates and provides heat to aid in melting of cumulate and crustal rocks and provides volatiles that promote the extraction of rhyolite in the shallow crust (Bachmann & Bergantz, 2004; Druitt et al, 2012; Hildreth, 2004; Singer et al, 2016; Wark et al, 2007).…”