Tomographic imaging of the Askja magma chamber and magmatic seismicity under Vatnajökull, Iceland

Robert White
2017
Tomographic imaging of the Askja magma chamber and magmatic seismicity under Vatnajökull, Iceland
This is a Full Scientific Report resulting from NERC Geophysical Equipment Facility Loan 968, principal investigator Prof Robert White.

Abstract

The original objectives of this proposal were 1. To make a tomographic image of the low-velocity, hot or/or melt-bearing bodies beneath Askja central volcano in the northern rift zone of Iceland; 2. To constrain the crustal and upper mantle velocity structure, including anisotropy beneath the northern rift zone and the Vatnajökull region using ambient noise and surface waves; 3. To map seismicity caused by melt movement beneath the five active volcanoes currently lying beneath the Vatnajökull ice cap. All three objectives have been achieved, and published, with more papers in preparation. An extension request for objectives 2 and 3 was granted and given a new loan number, 980, so those objectives are reported separately in a parallel Scientific Report to save repetition. Loan 968 of 20 seismometers supplemented 26 6TD and ESP seismometers purchased by Cambridge University and deployed on this project. During summer 2014 to summer 2015 the array was also supplemented by 15 Guralp 6TDs from SEIS-UK under loan 1022 deployed to monitor the Holuhraun eruption.

Full Report

PDF Tomographic imaging of the Askja magma chamber and magmatic seismicity under Vatnajökull, Iceland (1.5 Mb)
Cite as:
White, R., "Tomographic imaging of the Askja magma chamber and magmatic seismicity under Vatnajökull, Iceland", NERC Geophysical Equipment Facility, Scientific Report 968, 2017

Selected external publications resulting from this GEF loan

  1. Caudron, C., White, R.S., Green, R.G., Woods, J., Agustsdottir, T., Donaldson, C., Greenfield, T., Rivalta, E. and Brandsdottir, B., 2018, Seismic Amplitude Ratio Analysis of the 2014-2015 Bar∂arbunga-Holuhraun Dike Propagation and Eruption, Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 123(1), p264-276, doi: 10.1002/2017JB014660
  2. Greenfield, T., White, R.S., Winder, T. and Agustsdottir, T., 2018, Seismicity of the Askja and Bardarbunga volcanic systems of Iceland, 2009–2015, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, doi: 10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2018.08.010
  3. Jenkins, J., Maclennan, J., Green, R.G., Cottaar, S., Deuss, A.F. and White, R.S., 2018, Crustal Formation on a Spreading Ridge Above a Mantle Plume: Receiver Function Imaging of the Icelandic Crust, Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 123(6), p5190-5208, doi: 10.1029/2017JB015121
  4. Schopa, A., Chao, W., Lipovsky, B.P., Hovius, N., White, R.S., Green, R.G. and Turowski, J.M., 2018, Dynamics of the Askja caldera July 2014 landslide, Iceland, from seismic signal analysis: precursor, motion and aftermath, Earth Surface Dynamics, 6(2), p467-485, doi: 10.5194/esurf-6-467-2018
  5. Underwood, E., 2018, A Novel Way to Track Magma Flow, Eos, 99, doi: 10.1029/2018EO093255
  6. 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
  7. Woods, J., Donaldson, C., White, R.S., Caudron, C., Brandsdottir, B., Hudson, T.S. and Agustsdottir, T., 2018, Long-period seismicity reveals magma pathways above a laterally propagating dyke during the 2014–15 Bardarbunga rifting event, Iceland, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 490, p216-229, doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2018.03.020
  8. Woods, J., 2018, Dyke-induced earthquakes during the 2014-15 Bardarbunga-Holuhraun rifting event, Iceland, University of Cambridge, PhD Thesis
  9. Donaldson, C., Winder, T., Caudron, C. and White, R.S., 2019, Crustal seismic velocity responds to a magmatic intrusion and seasonal loading in Iceland’s Northern Volcanic Zone, Science Advances, 5(11), eaax6642, doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aax6642
  10. 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
  11. Woods, J., Winder, T., White, R.S. and Brandsdottir, B., 2019, Evolution of a lateral dike intrusion revealed by relatively-relocated dike-induced earthquakes: The 2014–15 Bardarbunga–Holuhraun rifting event, Iceland, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 506, p53-63, doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2018.10.032
  12. Green, R.G., Greenfield, T. and White, R.S., 2015, Triggered earthquakes suppressed by an evolving stress shadow from a propagating dyke, Nature Geoscience, 8(8), doi: 10.1038/NGEO2491
  13. Greenfield, T. and White, R.S., 2015, Building icelandic igneous crust by repeated melt injections, Journal of Geophysical Research Solid Earth, 120(11), pp7771-7788, doi: 10.1002/2015JB012009
  14. Agustsdottir, T., Woods, J., Greenfield, T., Green, R.G., White, R.S., Winder, T., Brandsdottir, B., Steinthorsson, S. and Soosalu, H., 2016, Strike-slip faulting during the 2014 Bardarbunga-Holuhraun dike Intrusion, central Iceland, Geophysical Research Letters, doi: 10.1002/2015GL067423
  15. Greenfield, T., White, R.S. and Roecker, S., 2016, The magmatic plumbing system of the Askja central volcano, Iceland, as imaged by seismic tomography, Journal of Geophysical Research Solid Earth, 121, p7211-7229, doi: 10.1002/2016JB013163
  16. Jenkins, J.S., Cottaar, S., White, R.S. and Deuss, A., 2016, Depressed mantle discontinuities beneath Iceland: Evidence of a garnet controlled 660 km discontinuity?, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 433, p159-168, doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2015.10.053
  17. White, R.S., 2016, Earthquakes and eruptions in Iceland, Planet Earth, Summer 2016, p7
  18. Green, R., 2016, The structure and seismicity of Icelandic rifts , University of Cambridge, doi: 10.17863/CAM.8916 , PhD Thesis
  19. Greenfield, T., 2016, The velocity structure and micro-seismicity of the Askja central volcano, Iceland, University of Cambridge, PhD Thesis
  20. Green, R.G., White,R.S. and Greenfield,T., 2013, Motion in the north Iceland volcanic rift zone accommodated by bookshelf faulting, Nature Geoscience, doi: 10.1038/ngeo2012
  21. Green, R.G., Priestley, K.F. and White, R.S., 2017, Ambient noise tomography reveals upper crustal structure of Icelandic rifts, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 466, p20-31, doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2017.02.039
  22. Hudson, T.S., White, R.S., Greenfield, T., Agustsdottir, T., Brisbourne, A. and Green, R.G., 2017, Deep crustal melt plumbing of Bardarbunga volcano, Iceland, Geophysical Research Letters, 44(17), p8785-8794, doi: 10.1002/2017GL074749
  23. Jenkins, J., Deuss, A. and Cottaar, S., 2017, Converted phases from sharp 1000 km depth mid-mantle heterogeneity beneath Western Europe, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 459, p196-207, doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2016.11.031
  24. Passarelli, L., Rivalta, E., Jonsson, S., Hensch, M., Metzger, S., Jakobsdottir, S.S., Maccaferri, F., Corbi, F. and Dahm, T., 2017, Scaling and spatial complementarity of tectonic earthquake swarms, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 482, p62-70, doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2017.10.052
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