Deep seismicity revealing magma dynamics of the Askja volcano, north Iceland

Janet Key, Heidi Soosalu, Robert S. White
2008
Deep seismicity revealing magma dynamics of the Askja volcano, north Iceland
This is a Full Scientific Report resulting from NERC Geophysical Equipment Facility Loan 842, principal investigator Prof Robert White.

Abstract

The Askja region is located on the mid-Atlantic spreading boundary in central Iceland. The study area includes the Askja caldera and the mountains Herðubreið and Herðubreiðartögl which are part of the larger Askja volcanic system. During a two month deployment in summer 2006 over 1800 earthquakes were detected in the region including 100 previously unwitnessed lower-crustal earthquakes. A new deployment of 22 Güralp 6TDs was conducted during July and August 2007 specifically designed to target these deeper events. Over 250 lower-crustal Askja events were recorded, more than double the number seen in 2006. Shallow earthquakes in the 2 – 5 km depth range within the caldera appear to delineate the upper edge of a magma chamber. In February 2007 a new region of lower-crustal seismic activity began below Upptyppingar mountain in the Kverkfjöll volcanic system, just 20 km E of Askja. One of our stations was directly above much of this activity and detailed relocations have been performed combining data from our network and the permanent Icelandic network; revealing short term clusters of ~10-100 events that are grouped very tightly horizontally and migrate vertically.

Full Report

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Cite as:
Key, J., Soosalu, H., White, R.S., "Deep seismicity revealing magma dynamics of the Askja volcano, north Iceland", NERC Geophysical Equipment Facility, Scientific Report 842, 2008

Selected external publications resulting from this GEF loan

  1. Pugh, D.J. and White, R.S., 2018, MTfit: A Bayesian Approach to Seismic Moment Tensor Inversion, Seismological Research Letters, doi: 10.1785/0220170273
  2. White, R.S., Edmonds, M., Maclennan, J., Greenfield, T. and Agustsdottir, T., 2018, Melt movement through the Icelandic crust, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 377(2139), p20180010, doi: 10.1098/rsta.2018.0010
  3. White, R.S., Edmonds, M., Maclennan, J., Greenfield, T. and Agustsdottir, T., 2019, Melt movement through the Icelandic crust, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 377(2139), p20180010, doi: 10.1098/rsta.2018.0010
  4. Soosalu, H., Key, J. and White, R.S., 2011, Laatikollisesta varaseismometreja rift-alueen alakuoren synnyn jaljille (From a box of spares to tracking down lower crust generation at a rift, in Finnish), Geologi, 63(2), pp36-43
  5. White, R.S., Drew, J., Martens, H.K., Key, A.J., Soosalu, H. and Jakobsdottir, S.S., 2011, Dynamics of dyke intrusion in the mid-crust of Iceland, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 304, pp300-312, doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2011.02.038
  6. Pugh, D.J., White, R.S. and Christie, P.A.F., 2016, Automatic Bayesian polarity determination, Geophysical Journal International, 206(1), p275-291, doi: 10.1093/gji/ggw146
  7. Pugh, D.J., White, R.S. and Christie, P.A.F., 2016, A Bayesian method for microseismic source inversion, Geophysical Journal International, 206(2), p1009-1038, doi: 10.1093/gji/ggw186
  8. Drew, J., White,R.S., Tilmann, F. and Tarasewicz, J., 2013, Coalescence microseismic mapping, Geophysical Journal International, 195, pp1773-1785, doi: 10.1093/gji/ggt331
  9. Martens, H. and White, R.S., 2013, Triggering of microearthquakes in Iceland by volatiles released from a dyke intrusion, Geophysical Journal International, 194(3), pp1738-1754, doi: 10.1093/gji/ggt184
  10. White, R.S., Redfern, S.A.T. and Chien, S., 2012, Episodicity of seismicity accompanying melt intrusion into the crust, Geophysical Research Letters, 39, L08306, doi: 10.1029/2012GL051392
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