Dense Local Seismic Network at Villarrica Volcano (Southern Chile)
Abstract
Villarrica volcano is one of the most active volcanoes in the Southern Andes. It has been presenting constant fumarole activity and seismicity since its last eruption in 1984-85. A local network was installed at Villarrica volcano (Southern Chile) during the first two weeks of March, 2012. In total, 75 DSS-Cube short-period stations (30 3-Component, 45 1-Component) were deployed at and around the volcano area, covering approx. 63 km x 55 km. The average station spacing is 1.5 km for stations inside the perimeter of the volcanic edifice, and 5km outside this perimeter. The network recorded ca. 94 volcano tectonic (VT) events located SSW, SSE and North of the crater, with clear P- and S-wave arrivals. Many others, ca.73 events, could be classified as 'hybrid' events (HB), which present high frequencies at the beginning of the signal, and a sharp and notorious S-wave at the crater stations, but a strong scattering, lower frequency content, and elongated coda on the stations along the volcanic edifice. This strong scattering effect is probably caused by the heterogeneous ash layers on the edifice structure. Few long period events (LP), with main frequencies between 2-4 Hz, were observed. From the tectonic regional events, three sets of events can be distinguished. One coming from the southern end of the focal plane of the Maule earthquake (2010), with S-P wave travel time difference of ca. 30 s or more. Another closer group with S-P wave travel time difference between 10 s and 20 s, and the last group with S-P wave travel time difference of 10 s or less. A cross-correlation analysis to the travel times of the regional events and a teleseismic event from Argentina was applied in order to determine the average velocity structure of the volcano, and obtained an average P-wave velocity of 3.6 km/s for the volcanic edifice inside a radius of 6.5 km, and 4.1 km/s for the surrounding area outside this radius. This model serves as a starting point for local earthquake tomography for exploring the inner structure of Villarrica volcano, for integrating the local model into a previously determined regional tomographic model (Dzierma et al., 2012), as well as for improving the location of the VT events.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2013
- Bibcode:
- 2013AGUFM.V23A2784M
- Keywords:
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- 7280 SEISMOLOGY Volcano seismology;
- 7270 SEISMOLOGY Tomography;
- 8400 VOLCANOLOGY;
- 8419 VOLCANOLOGY Volcano monitoring