Evidence of a Shallow Magma Reservoir Beneath Askja Caldera, Iceland, From Body Wave Tomography

• Main Authors: Han, J, Rawlinson, N, Greenfield, T, White, RS, Brandsdóttir, B, Winder, T, Drouin, V
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Geophysical Union (AGU) 2024
• Subjects: 37 Earth Sciences; 3703 Geochemistry; 3705 Geology; 3706 Geophysics; Askja; Iceland
• Online Access: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/367663

Publication status: Published Funder: China Scholarship Council; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100004543 Funder: Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100010441 Funder: Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship Funder: Natural Environment Research Council; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000270 <jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>In August 2021, Askja caldera switched to reinflation following ∼40 years of continuous deflation that was first measured some 20 years after its last eruption in 1961. Various lines of evidence, including from geodetic modeling, suggest that both the deflation and reinflation events are related to a shallow magma body. To better understand the subsurface plumbing system, we derive P‐wave velocity (Vp), S‐wave velocity (Vs), and Vp/Vs models of the mid‐upper crust by leveraging a new local earthquake traveltime data set. A cylindrical low‐velocity zone, ∼3 km wide and extending to ∼8 km below sea level (bsl), was imaged beneath the caldera. Within it, two distinct lower velocity and higher Vp/Vs anomalies are illuminated, one centered at ∼0.5 km and the other at ∼6 km bsl. The shallower anomaly lies directly beneath the zone of uplift and is likely associated with the current reinflation event.</jats:p>