[S-VC41] Active Volcanism

[SVC41-13] Post-eruptive thermoelastic deflation of intruded magma in Usu volcano, Japan, 1992–2017

*Xiaowen Wang¹, Yosuke Aoki¹ (1.Earthquake Research Institute, the University of Tokyo )

Keywords:Usu volcano, post-eruptive, thermoelastic deflation, InSAR

Observations of volcanic post-eruptive deformation is important for inferring underground magma processes and predicting eruptive cycles. Secular ground subsidence at Usu volcano (Japan) has been reported around the eruption vents following the four eruptions in 1910, 1943, 1977, and 2000. However, the mechanisms accounting for the subsidence have not been well understood due to the poor spatial and temporal resolution of previous observations. In this study, we systematically investigated the post-eruptive deformation at Usu volcano using interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) based on 111 JERS, ALOS-1, and ALOS-2 images acquired from five different tracks from 1992 to 2017. We also calculated quasi east-west and vertical ground displacements between 2006 and 2017 with the available of ascending and descending InSAR observations. Our results shown three localized deformation regions from west to east of Usu volcano with their locations corresponding to the 2000, 1977, and 1943 eruption vents, respectively. All the deformation sites show obvious patterns of east-west contraction and subsidence. The extent and rate of post-eruptive subsidence declined dramatically at the vent of the 2000 eruption site from 2006 to 2017, decreased gradually at the 1977 vent, and shows a steady pattern for the 1943 site during 1992-2017. We ascribed the observed post-eruptive subsidence to thermoelastic contraction of a sphere intruded at the time of the eruptions to constrain locations, depths, volumes of heat sources with the assumption of the spherical source shapes. Thermoelastic modeling revealed three shallow heat sources embedded at the depth of 0.213, 0.356, and 0.061 km below sea level with volumes of about 0.007, 0.136, and 0.044 km³ for the 2000, 1977 and 1943 eruption sites, respectively. Quantitative comparisons between the simulated and observed temporal evolution of ground displacements shows a good agreement, justifying the inferred heat sources. The modeling also highlights the importance of underground water in controlling thermal diffusion process to further affect the post-eruptive deformation.