Mauna Loa and Kīlauea Elastic volcanic interaction detected via independent component  analysis

Abstract

The interaction processes between the two most active Hawaiian volcanoes are still controversial, and despite multiple studies carried out over more than a century, an unambiguous model has yet to be identified. In order to provide new insights we compared the ground deformation patterns in both volcanoes using DInSAR SBAS and Global Positioning System (GPS)datasets. In this work, we processed 10 tracks of ENVISAT ASAR satellite images from 20032010, together with available GPS data from 15 stations located around the two summit calderas of Mauna Loa and Kīlauea. We applied the Independent Component Analysis (ICA) to the DInSAR SBAS ground deformation data to reveal relationships between the spatio-temporal patterns of the ground deformation of the two volcanoes. ICA is widely used Data Mining technique, which allows detecting, separating and characterizing hidden patterns into a spatio-temporal dataset. We performed inverse modelling of the observed ground deformation pattern using analytical source models. The results indicate that the ground deformation of Mauna Loa is associated with a dike‐shaped source located at 6.2 km depth. In comparison, the anticorrelated ground deformation of Kīlauea is associated with a volumetric source at 1.2 km depth. This excludes a hydraulic connection as a possible mechanism to explain the anticorrelated behaviour; instead, we postulate a stress‐transfer mechanism. To support this hypothesis, we performed a 3D numerical modelling of stress and strain fields in the study area, determining the elastic interaction of each source over the others. The most relevant finding is that the Mauna Loa shallow plumbing system can affect the shallowest magmatic reservoir of Kīlauea.