Magma Fracking Beneath Active Volcanoes Based on Seismic Data and Hydrothermal Activity Observations

• Published in: Geosciences
• Main Authors: Alexey Kiryukhin, Evgenia Chernykh, Andrey Polyakov, Alexey Solomatin
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020
• Subjects: magma; hydrothermal; fracking; volcanoes; kamchatka; Geology; QE1-996.5; Kamchatka
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences10020052; https://doaj.org/article/d829c0df2f334cf3a6bacbaafe6edabf

Active volcanoes are associated with microearthquake (MEQ) hypocenters that form plane-oriented cluster distributions. These are faults delineating a magma injection system of dykes and sills. The Frac-Digger program was used to track fracking faults in the Kamchatka active volcanic belt and fore-arc region of Russia. In the case of magma laterally injected from volcanoes into adjacent structures, high-temperature hydrothermal systems arise, for example at Mutnovsky and Koryaksky volcanoes. Thermal features adjacent to these active volcanoes respond to magma injection events by degassing CO 2 and by transient temperature changes. Geysers created by CO 2 -gaslift activity in silicic volcanism areas also flag magma and CO 2 recharge and redistributions, for example at the Uzon-Geyserny, Kamchatka, Russia and Yellowstone, USA magma hydrothermal systems. Seismogenic faults in the Kamchatka fore-arc region are indicators of geofluid fracking; those faults can be traced down to 250 km depth, which is within the subduction slab below primary magma sources.