Gravimetric imaging of partially molten bodies beneath the Bolivian Altiplano

The presence of partial melt in the Earth's crust causes a decrease in density, and hence a density contrast, that generates a potential field anomaly. Gravimetric techniques can quantify such an anomaly and invert its signature to produce a subsurface density distribution model, from which images of anomalous density bodies can be isolated. Here, we present a 3D gravimetric image of four deep-rooted negative density bodies in the Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes in southern Bolivia, which we interpret to contain partial melt. The underlying gravimetric data were obtained by the combination of 143 new with 60 existing observation from previous regional surveys. The survey covers an area of ~5000 km2 that comprises the Central Andean Bouguer anomaly minima of about -450 μGal. After standard data reduction, the local residual gravity signal was inverted using a priori determined plausible density contrasts (±50 to ±300 kg m-3). The inversion routine builds a subsurface model (defined by the 3D aggregation of parallel-piped cells) based on a controlled 'growth' process of anomalous density bodies by means of an exploratory approach. Non-uniqueness is addressed by favouring solutions that balance minimum residuals and minimum number of anomalous bodies with minimum anomalous mass. Within the range of assumed density contrasts, all inversion models show the presence of the deep-rooted low-density bodies, providing a significant confidence level to the inversion results. Our favoured 3D model of the anomalous bodies is obtained from a negative density contrast of 150 kg m-3 that corresponds to <30 vol% partial melt of dacitic composition. These partially molten bodies appear to connect the Altiplano-Puna Magma Body (AMPB) at ~20 km depth, to shallower (~5 km) pre-eruption levels beneath the Altiplano-Puna Volcanic Complex (APVC). One of the bodies is located beneath a large on-going ground uplift centred at Uturuncu volcano and the modelled ground deformation source lies within the gravimetrically imaged body of partial melt.