A quest for unrest in multiparameter observations at Whakaari/White Island volcano, New Zealand 2007–2018

Abstract The Whakaari/White Island volcano, located ~ 50 km off the east coast of the North Island in New Zealand, has experienced sequences of quiescence, unrest, magmatic and phreatic eruptions over the last decades. For the last 15 years, seismic data have been continuously archived providing pot...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Earth, Planets and Space
Main Authors: Corentin Caudron, Társilo Girona, Arthur Jolly, Bruce Christenson, Martha Kane Savage, Roberto Carniel, Thomas Lecocq, Ben Kennedy, Ivan Lokmer, Alexander Yates, Ian Hamling, Iseul Park, Geoff Kilgour, Agnès Mazot
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2021
Subjects:
Volcanology
Monitoring
Phreatic eruption
Seismic noise
Tremor
Geography. Anthropology. Recreation
G
Geodesy
QB275-343
Geology
QE1-996.5
New Zealand
White Island
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-021-01506-0
https://doaj.org/article/93c02ca1ec474241af307bf030dab3aa
Description
Summary:Abstract The Whakaari/White Island volcano, located ~ 50 km off the east coast of the North Island in New Zealand, has experienced sequences of quiescence, unrest, magmatic and phreatic eruptions over the last decades. For the last 15 years, seismic data have been continuously archived providing potential insight into this frequently active volcano. Here we take advantage of this unusually long time series to retrospectively process the seismic data using ambient noise and tremor-based methodologies. We investigate the time (RSAM) and frequency (Power Spectral Density) evolution of the volcanic tremor, then estimate the changes in the shallow subsurface using the Displacement Seismic Amplitude Ratio (DSAR), relative seismic velocity (dv/v) and decorrelation, and the Luni-Seismic Correlation (LSC). By combining our new set of observations with the long-term evolution of earthquakes, deformation, visual observations and geochemistry, we review the activity of Whakaari/White Island between 2007 and the end of 2018. Our analysis reveals the existence of distinct patterns related to the volcano activity with periods of calm followed by cycles of pressurization and eruptions. We finally put these results in the wider context of forecasting phreatic eruptions using continuous seismic records.

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