Application of Muography for Investigating the Internal Structure of Stromboli Volcano
Abstract
Stromboli is an active volcano located in the Tyrrenian sea on the south of Italy. Its persistent activity characterized by hundreds of moderate explosions per day. Active vents located in the summit area and so-called Sciara del Fuoco that slopes down to the sea are the principal structures of the volcanic edifice. Potential risk is associated to the occurrence of major/parossistic explosions and potential tsunamigenic landslides. Knowledge of the internal structure of the Volcano's upper part is of paramount importance for understanding the volcanic explosions dynamics. In this experiment, we have performed a muography of the internal structure of the summit crater zone, using a detector of about one square meter sensitive area and accumulating data for about five months, from October 2011 to March 2012. The muon detector based on the emulsion films designed for the OPERA Neutrino Oscillation research experiment was installed at 640 m a.s.l., oriented towards the crater region. At the end of the exposure, emulsions were extracted and developed in the OPERA facility at Gran Sasso underground laboratory. After emulsion analysis and the muon tracks reconstruction an image (muography) of the crater area, with a resolution of about 10 meters was obtained. This muography, highlights a low-density region in proximity of the NE crater. The anomaly of the flux along the muon path through the crater zone indicates a density decrease down to 1.7 g/cm3, with respect to a standard rock density of 2.65 g/cm3. The density anomaly can be explained by the presence of porous incoherent material that fills the collapse structure in the summit of the volcano. During the winter 2017-2018 the second campaign of measurements has been performed using the upgraded detector able to suppress significant part the low-momentum background, thus improving imaging contrast for the deeper part of the edifice.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018AGUFMNS23B0710M
- Keywords:
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- 0933 Remote sensing;
- EXPLORATION GEOPHYSICSDE: 9805 Instruments useful in three or more fields;
- GENERAL OR MISCELLANEOUSDE: 4315 Monitoring;
- forecasting;
- prediction;
- NATURAL HAZARDSDE: 8419 Volcano monitoring;
- VOLCANOLOGY