Seismic imaging of magma chamber beneath an active volcano

Yutaka Nagaoka(JMA), Kiwamu Nishida, Yosuke Aoki, Minoru Takeo, Takao Ohminato

Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 333-334, p. 1-8, 2012.doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2012.03.034

Abstract
While the location and shape of magma chambers beneath active volcanoes play a key role in understanding magma transport and forecasting volcanic activity, the nature of magma chambers, particularly their shape, is not fully understood. Here we found a low velocity body too small to be detected from conventional techniques by the aid of a modern technique called seismic interferometry.
Combining our result with independent observations suggests that the low velocity body is likely to represent a magma chamber. Our findings demonstrate the utility of seismic interferometry in imaging a small scale feature with a size of less than 10 km.