Imaging the hydrothermal system beneath the Jigokudani valley, Tateyama volcano, Japan: implications for structures controlling repeated phreatic eruptions from an audio-frequency magnetotelluric survey

Abstract

This study focuses on the results of an audio-frequency magnetotelluric (AMT) survey across the Jigokudani valley, Tateyama volcano, Japan, to investigate the spatial relationship between the distribution of electrical resistivity and geothermal activity and to elucidate the geologic controls on both its phreatic eruption history and recent increase in phreatic activity. The AMT data were collected at eight locations across the Jigokudani valley in September 2013, with high quality data obtained from most sites, enabling the identification of an underground 2D resistivity structure from the transverse magnetic (TM) mode data. The data obtained during this study provided evidence of a large conductive region beneath the surface of the Jigokudani valley that is underlain by a resistive layer at depths below 500 m. The resistive layer is cut by a relatively conductive region that extends subvertically toward the shallow conductor. The shallow conductive region is divided into an uppermost slightly conductive section that is thought to be a lacustrine sediment layer of an extinct crater lake containing hydrothermal fluids and a lower section containing a mix of volcanic gases and hydrothermal fluids. The low permeability of the clay zone means that the uppermost clayey sediments allow the accumulation of gases in the lower section of the conductive region, suggesting the existence of a cap structure. The deep resistive layer likely consists of units similar to the granitic rocks that are widely exposed throughout the Jigokudani valley. We suggest that the relatively conductive zone that separates these granitic rocks represents a high-temperature volcanic gas conduit, given that the most active fumarole in the Jigokudani valley lies directly along the trajectory of this path.