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Evidence of a shallow persistent magmatic reservoir from joint inversion of gravity and ground deformation data: The 25–26 October 2013 Etna lava fountaining event
Author(s) -
Greco Filippo,
Currenti Gilda,
Palano Mimmo,
Pepe Antonio,
Pepe Susi
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2016gl068426
Subject(s) - geology , volcano , impact crater , lava , seismology , magma , inversion (geology) , magma chamber , tectonics , physics , astronomy
To evaluate the volcanic processes leading to the 25–26 October 2013 lava fountain at Mount Etna, we jointly investigated gravity, GPS, and DInSAR measurements covering the late‐June to early‐November time interval. We used finite element modeling to infer a shallow magmatic reservoir which (i) inflated since July 2013, (ii) fed the volcanic activity at the summit craters during 25–26 October, and (iii) deflated due to magma drainage related to this volcanic activity. We suggested that this reservoir belongs to a shallow volume, which is located beneath the summit area and is replenished by magma rising from deep reservoirs and fed the short‐term volcanic activity, representing a persistent shallow magmatic plumbing system of Etna. In addition, the model results show that there is a large discrepancy between the erupted and shallow reservoir deflation volumes, which could be reasonably attributable to a highly compressible volatile‐rich magma.