Deep structure of the North Vent Area, Great Tolbachik Fissure Eruption of 1975–1976, Kamchatka: Evidence from low-frequency microseismic sounding

Abstract

Studies were conducted to improve our knowledge of the deep structure of the magmatic system and the plumbing system for the North Vent, Great Tolbachik Fissure Eruption of 1975–1976 based on recordings of background microseismic emission by broadband digital instruments along two parallel lines running through eruptive centers of various ages across the main magma-conducting fault. The method of low-frequency microseismic sounding was used for constructing deep sections down to a depth of 20 km, showing the shear-velocity distributions along these lines. Elements of the magmatic system were revealed beneath both vents in the form of low-velocity anomalies. We identified regions of magma chambers at different depths together with the channelways that connect these. It was found that magma might come to shallow chambers from different deep-seated sources along spatially isolated magma conduits, which is one of the possible causes of the variation in the basalt composition during the eruptions. For the zone of areal volcanism we are the first to demonstrate a change in magma-conducting conduits in the transition from the crystalline basement to the volcanogenic sedimentary rock sequence, with subvertical channels being replaced by inclined forms. It was shown that the elements of the magmatic system beneath both eruptive centers studied here are similar. It is hypothesized that there is a regularity in the configuration of plumbing systems in the middle part of the Tolbachik regional zone of areal volcanism.