Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 10 October 2008:
Vol. 322. no. 5899, pp. 249 - 252
DOI: 10.1126/science.1161927
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Laboratory Simulation of Volcano Seismicity

Philip M Benson,1,2* Sergio Vinciguerra,3 Philip G Meredith,1 R Paul Young2

The physical processes generating seismicity within volcanic edifices are highly complex and not fully understood. We report results from a laboratory experiment in which basalt from Mount Etna volcano (Italy) was deformed and fractured. The experiment was monitored with an array of transducers around the sample to permit full-waveform capture, location, and analysis of microseismic events. Rapid post-failure decompression of the water-filled pore volume and damage zone triggered many low-frequency events, analogous to volcanic long-period seismicity. The low frequencies were associated with pore fluid decompression and were located in the damage zone in the fractured sample; these events exhibited a weak component of shear (double-couple) slip, consistent with fluid-driven events occurring beneath active volcanoes.

1 Rock and Ice Physics Laboratory, Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK.
2 Lassonde Institute, University of Toronto, 170 College Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3E3, Canada.
3 Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione di Roma 1, Via di Vigna Murata 605, 00143, Rome, Italy

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: p.benson{at}ucl.ac.uk

Read the Full Text

To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)