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Arc volcanoes are underlain by complex systems of molten-rock reservoirs ranging from melt-poor mush zones to melt-rich magma chambers. Petrological and satellite data indicate that eruptible magma chambers form in the topmost few kilometres of the crust. However, very few chambers have ever been definitively located, suggesting that most are too short-lived or too small to be imaged, which has direct implications for hazard assessment and modelling of magma differentiation. Here we use a high-resolution technology based on inverting full seismic waveforms to image a small, high-melt-fraction magma chamber that was not detected with standard seismic tomography. The melt reservoir extends from ~2 to at least 4 km below sea level (b.s.l.) at Kolumbo – a submarine volcano near Santorini, Greece. The chamber coincides with the termination point of the recent earthquake swarms and may be a missing link between a deeper melt reservoir and the high-temperature hydrothermal system venting at the crater floor. The chamber poses a serious hazard as it could produce a highly explosive, tsunamigenic eruption in the near future. Our results suggest that similar reservoirs (relatively small but high melt-fraction) may have gone undetected at other active volcanoes, challenging the existing eruption forecasts and reactive-flow models of magma differentiation.

Arc volcanoes are underlain by complex systems of molten-rock reservoirs ranging from melt-poor mush zones to melt-rich magma chambers. Petrological and satellite data indicate that eruptible magma chambers form in the topmost few kilometres of the crust. However, very few chambers have ever been definitively located, suggesting that most are too short-lived or too small to be imaged, which has direct implications for hazard assessment and modelling of magma differentiation. Here we use a high-resolution technology based on inverting full seismic waveforms to image a small, high-melt-fraction magma chamber that was not detected with standard seismic tomography. The melt reservoir extends from ∼2 to at least 4 km below sea level (b.s.l.) at Kolumbo – a submarine volcano near Santorini, Greece. The chamber coincides with the termination point of the recent earthquake swarms and may be a missing link between a deeper melt reservoir and the high-temperature hydrothermal system venting at the crater floor. The chamber poses a serious hazard as it could produce a highly explosive, tsunamigenic eruption in the near future. Our results suggest that similar reservoirs (relatively small but high-melt-fraction) may have gone undetected at other active volcanoes, challenging the existing eruption forecasts and reactive-flow models of magma differentiation. Key Points A shallow, very strong negative Vp anomaly imaged under the explosive, submarine Kolumbo volcano, Greece, using full-waveform inversion The high-fidelity image and petrologic data indicate the anomaly is a small (∼0.6-km wide, ∼2-km deep), magma chamber with ∼42% of melt The chamber was missed by travel-time tomography indicating similar reservoirs may have gone undetected at other volcanoes

Recent advances in our understanding of arc magmatic systems indicate that melt is stored for long periods in low‐melt fraction crystal mushes, and that eruptible magma reservoirs are short‐lived and are assembled rapidly by buoyancy‐induced instabilities and draining of the crystal mush. Many aspects of their architecture remain unclear, particularly in relation to their geometry and shallow melt distribution. We investigate the storage of melt below the active Soufrière Hills Volcano (SHV), Montserrat, using joint geophysical inversion combined with a quantitative interpretation approach based on rock physics. We jointly inverted active‐source P‐wave traveltimes and gravity anomalies to derive coincident 3D models of P‐wave velocity and density to a depth of 8 km. Comparative analysis of the active SHV and extinct Centre Hills volcano and effective elastic medium computations allow us to constrain temperature, melt fraction and melt geometry. A continuous column of partial melt is inferred beneath SHV, at 4‐8 km depth. Melt fraction is ~6% (ranging from 3% to 13% depending on melt geometry) and is maximum at 5‐6 km depth. When under‐recovery of the low‐vP volume is taken into account, the melt fraction is revised to ~17% (ranging from 11 to 28%). Analysis of vP/density cross plots indicates that the melt distribution is best represented by low‐aspect ratio geometries. These likely span a multi‐scale spectrum ranging from grain‐scale inclusions and fractures to 100‐meter‐scale dykes and sills. Our results confirm the concept of vertically extensive crystal mush including one or multiple more melt‐rich layers. Plain Language Summary We use data from the Soufrière Hills Volcano on Montserrat to study the storage of magma in the plumbing system of an active volcano. By measuring the time it takes for seismic waves to travel from artificial sound sources to recording instruments located on the island and on the seabed around it, we can determine the speed of sound in t

Variations in crustal structure along the 700 km long KRISE7 refraction/reflection and gravity profile, straddling 66.5 degrees N across the Iceland Shelf, Iceland Plateau and western Norway Basin confirm that extinct spreading centers coexisted with the now extinct aegir Ridge prior to the initiation of the Kolbeinsey Ridge at 26 Ma. The western 300 km of the profile, across the Iceland shelf, formed by rifting at the Kolbeinsey Ridge, whereas the eastern 400 km, across the Iceland Plateau and the western Norway Basin, formed by earlier rifting, possibly containing slivers of older oceanic or continental crust rifted off the central E-Greenland margin along with the Jan Mayen Ridge. Crustal thickness increases gradually across the Iceland shelf, from 12 to 13 km near the Kolbeinsey Ridge to 24-28 km near the eastern shelf edge, decreasing abruptly across the shelf edge, to 12-13 km. The Iceland Plateau has crustal thickness ranging from 12 to 15 km decreasing to 5-8 km across the western Norway Basin and 4-5 km at the aegir Ridge. We suggest that high-velocity lower crustal domes and corresponding gravity highs across the Iceland plateau mark the location of extinct rift axes that coexisted with the aegir Ridge. Similar lower crustal domes are associated with the currently active rift segments within Iceland and the Kolbeinsey Ridge.

Author Posting. © The Oceanography Society, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of The Oceanography Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Oceanography 27, no. 2 (2014): 138-150, doi:10.5670/oceanog.2014.49., Increasing public awareness that the Cascadia subduction zone in the Pacific Northwest is capable of great earthquakes (magnitude 9 and greater) motivates the Cascadia Initiative, an ambitious onshore/offshore seismic and geodetic experiment that takes advantage of an amphibious array to study questions ranging from megathrust earthquakes, to volcanic arc structure, to the formation, deformation and hydration of the Juan De Fuca and Gorda Plates. Here, we provide an overview of the Cascadia Initiative, including its primary science objectives, its experimental design and implementation, and a preview of how the resulting data are being used by a diverse and growing scientific community. The Cascadia Initiative also exemplifies how new technology and community-based experiments are opening up frontiers for marine science. The new technology—shielded ocean bottom seismometers—is allowing more routine investigation of the source zone of megathrust earthquakes, which almost exclusively lies offshore and in shallow water. The Cascadia Initiative offers opportunities and accompanying challenges to a rapidly expanding community of those who use ocean bottom seismic data., The Cascadia Initiative is supported by the National Science Foundation; the CIET is supported under grants OCE- 1139701, OCE-1238023, OCE‐1342503, OCE-1407821, and OCE-1427663 to the University of Oregon.

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution December 1996, Two-thirds of the surface of the Earth is created at mid-ocean ridges where magmas rise from the mantle and cool to form the oceanic crust. The objective of this Thesis is to examine the influence of magma supply and eruptive processes on axial morphology, crustal construction, and the properties of crustal magma chambers at intermediate and fast spreading ridges. Variations in magma supply on time scales of ~100 Kyr generate along-axis changes in crustal thickness and temperature. Magma sill properties and hydrothermal activity are closely linked to spreading events which occur on much shorter time scales (ca. 10-100 yr) than the longer-term variations in magma supply reflected in along-axis changes in ridge morphology. The seismically constrained depths of ridge crest magma sills (>1-2 km) are considerably deeper than the level of neutral buoyancy (100-400 m). The apparent inverse relationship between magma sill depth and spreading rate suggests that a thermally controlled permeability boundary, such as the solidus horizon, controls the depth at which magma ponds beneath mid-ocean ridges. Recent thermo-mechanical models predict that, at intermediate spreading rates, rift valley and magma sill formation are sensitive to small changes in crustal thickness and mantle temperature. Analysis of gravity at an intermediate spreading ridge shows that small differences in crustal thickness (300-700 m) and mantle temperature (10-15°C) are indeed sufficient to produce major changes in lithospheric strength and axial morphology. A stochastic model for the emplacement of dikes and lava flows with a bimodal distribution of lava flows is required to satisfy geological and geophysical constraints on the construction of the extrusive section. Most dikes are intruded within a narrow zone at the ridge axis. Short flows build up approximately half the extrusive volume. Occasional flows that pond at a considerable distance off-axis build up the remainder of the extrusive section. This