*Jeongyeon Yu1, Heejun Kim1, Jeonghoon Lee2, Hyejung Jung2, Naoto Takahata3, Yuji Sano3,4, Hyunwoo Lee1
(1.School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Seoul National University, Republic of Korea, 2.Department of Science Education, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Republic of Korea, 3.Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo, Japan, 4.Center for Advanced Marine Core Research, Kochi University, Japan)
Keywords:Jeju island, Helium isotope, Carbon isotope, Volatiles, Volcano
In Jeju Island, where no active volcanism has occurred for thousands of years, it was recently reported that a low-speed area (LVZ) exists in the subcontinental part, and groundwater in some areas of Jeju Island is known to contain mantle-derived carbon dioxide (CO2). To identify potential volcanic activity in Jeju Island, we report the results of geochemical analysis from water collected from springs and groundwater wells and gases dissolved in water samples. In most springs and groundwater in Jeju Island, CO2 and N2 are the main dissolved gas components and contain more than 79.9 vol.%. In particular, among them, CO2 of more than 99.5 vol.% is measured in carbonic springs. In addition, the relative abundances of N2-Ar-He in the dissolved gases show that carbonic springs and some groundwater with high He concentrations are relatively well-preserved for and tend to be diluted by atmospheric components. The relatively high carbon isotope ratios of CO2 in all carbonic springs (δ13C vs. V-PDB = -1.5 to -9.3‰) indicate the mantle contribution, but the other samples have lower δ13C values of -13.4 to -22.7‰, which implies biogenic CO2. Similarly, the carbonic springs exhibit mantle-derived helium, with helium isotope ratios (3He/4He) ranging from 5.57 Ra to 6.25 Ra. Moreover, mantle-derived helium is also observed in some groundwater wells (5.59 to 6.79 Ra), which means that mantle-derived CO2 is emitted only in certain areas, but helium is released throughout Jeju Island. Taken together, mantle-derived CO2 and He are currently degassed in Jeju Island, which can be seen as indicators of potential magmatic activities considered together with the LVZ distribution, that continuous monitoring is necessary.