Imaging the Laguna del Maule Volcanic Field, central Chile using magnetotellurics: Evidence for crustal melt regions laterally-offset from surface vents and lava flows

Abstract

Magnetotelluric (MT) data were collected at the Laguna del Maule volcanic field (LdMVF), located in central Chile (36°S, 70.5°W), which has been experiencing unprecedented upward ground deformation since 2007. These data were used to create the first detailed three-dimensional electrical resistivity model of the LdMVF and surrounding area. The resulting model was spatially complex with several major conductive features imaged at different depths and locations around Laguna del Maule (LdM). A near-surface conductor (C1; 0.5 Ωm) approximately 100 m beneath the lake is interpreted as a conductive smectite clay cap related to a shallow hydrothermal reservoir. At 4 km depth, a strong conductor (C3; 0.3 Ωm) is located beneath the western edge of LdM. The proximity of C3 to the recent Pleistocene-to-Holocene vents in the northwest LdMVF and nearby hot springs suggests that C3 is a hydrous (>5 wt% H2O), rhyolitic partial melt with melt fraction >35% and a free-water hydrothermal component. C3 dips towards, and is connected to, a deeper conductor (C4; 1 Ωm). C4 is located to the north of LdM at >8 km depth below surface and is interpreted as a long-lived, rhyolitic-to-andesitic magma reservoir with melt fractions less than 35%. It is hypothesized that the deeper magma reservoir (C4) is providing melt and hydrothermal fluids to the shallower magma reservoir (C3). A large conductor directly beneath the LdMVF is not imaged with MT suggesting that any mush volume beneath LdM must be anhydrous (<2 wt% H2O), low temperature and low melt fraction (<25%) in order to go undetected. The presence of large conductors to the north has important implications for magma dynamics as it suggests that material may have a significant lateral component (>10 km) as it moves from the deep magma reservoir (C4) to create small, ephemeral volumes of eruptible melt (C3). It is hypothesized that there may be a north–south contrast in physical processes affecting the growth of melt-rich zones since major conductors are imaged in the northern LdMVF while no major conductors are detected beneath the southern vents. The analysis and interpretation of features directly beneath the lake is complicated by the surface conductor C1 which attenuates low-frequency signals. The attenuation from C1 does not affect C3 or C4. At 1 km depth directly beneath LdM, a weak conductor (C2; <10 Ωm) is imaged but is not required by the data. Forward modeling tests show that a relatively large (30 km3), high melt fraction (>50%), silicic reservoir with 5 wt% H2O at 2 to 5 km depth beneath the inflation center is not supported by the MT data. However, a smaller (10 km3) eruptible volume could go undetected even with relatively high melt fraction (>50%). The location of large melt regions to the north has important implications for long-term volcanic hazards at LdMVF as well as other volcanoes as it raises the possibility that the vent distribution is not always indicative of the location of deeper source regions of melt.