Remote Sensing of Volcanoes and Volcanic Processes: Integrating Observation and Modelling
Volcanoes have played a profound role in shaping our planet, and volcanic activity is a major hazard locally, regionally and globally. Many volcanoes are, however, poorly accessible and sparsely monitored. Consequently, remote sensing is playing an increasingly important role in tracking volcano behaviour, while synoptic remote sensing techniques have begun to make major contributions to volcanological science. Volcanology is driven in part by the operational concerns of volcano monitoring and hazard management, but the goal of volcanological science is to understand the processes that underlie volcanic activity. This volume shows how we may reach a deeper understanding by integrating remote sensing measurements with modelling approaches and, if available, ground-based observations. It includes reviews and papers that report technical advances and document key case studies. They span a range of remote sensing applications to volcanoes, from volcano deformation, thermal anomalies and gas fluxes, to the tracking of eruptive ash and gas plumes. The result is a state-of-the-art overview of the ever-growing importance of remote sensing to volcanology.
Magma pathway and its structural controls of Asama Volcano, Japan
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Published:January 01, 2013
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CiteCitation
Yosuke Aoki, Minoru Takeo, Takao Ohminato, Yutaka Nagaoka, Kiwamu Nishida, 2013. "Magma pathway and its structural controls of Asama Volcano, Japan", Remote Sensing of Volcanoes and Volcanic Processes: Integrating Observation and Modelling, D. M. Pyle, T. A. Mather, J. Biggs
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Abstract
Asama Volcano, Japan, is one of the most active volcanoes in the Japanese islands. Recent development of geophysical monitoring in Asama Volcano allows us to infer the magma pathway and its structural controls beneath the volcano. Combining geodetic data and precise earthquake locations during recent eruptions suggests that the magma intrudes several kilometres to the west of the summit to a depth of about 1 km below sea level as a nearly east–west-trending dyke. The vertically intruded magma then moves horizontally by several kilometres to beneath the summit before it ascends vertically to make the surface. Combining the P-wave velocity and the resistivity structure shows that the intrusions are under structural controls. Frozen and fractureless magma associated with volcanic activity until 24 000 years ago impedes the ascent of rising magma on its way to the surface. The S-wave velocity structure inferred from ambient noise tomography reveals a low-velocity body beneath the modelled dyke. From independent information, we have inferred that this low-velocity body is likely to be a magma chamber.