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Science 11 August 2006:
Vol. 313. no. 5788, pp. 821 - 823
DOI: 10.1126/science.1127724
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Reports

Time-Resolved Seismic Tomography Detects Magma Intrusions at Mount Etna

D. Patanè,1* G. Barberi,1 O. Cocina,1 P. De Gori,2 C. Chiarabba2

The continuous volcanic and seismic activity at Mount Etna makes this volcano an important laboratory for seismological and geophysical studies. We used repeated three-dimensional tomography to detect variations in elastic parameters during different volcanic cycles, before and during the October 2002–January 2003 flank eruption. Well-defined anomalous low P- to S-wave velocity ratio volumes were revealed. Absent during the pre-eruptive period, the anomalies trace the intrusion of volatile-rich (≥4 weight percent) basaltic magma, most of which rose up only a few months before the onset of eruption. The observed time changes of velocity anomalies suggest that four-dimensional tomography provides a basis for more efficient volcano monitoring and short- and midterm eruption forecasting of explosive activity.

1 Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione di Catania, Piazza Roma, 2, 95123, Catania, Italy.
2 Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Centro Nazionale Terremoti, Via di Vigna Murata, 605, 00143, Roma, Italy.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: patane{at}ct.ingv.it

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