Mechanical and geometric controls on the structural evolution of pit crater and caldera subsidence

Abstract

[1] Pit craters and calderas are volcanic depressions produced by subsidence of a magma reservoir roof. To identify how geometric and mechanical factors may influence the structural evolution of this subsidence, we used two-dimensional distinct element method numerical models. The reservoir host rock was represented as an assemblage of bonded circular particles that interact according to elastic-frictional laws. Varying particle and bond properties produced a range of bulk material properties characteristic of natural rock masses. Fracturing results when bonds break, once their shear or tensile strength is exceeded. The magma reservoir was represented as a region of nonbonded low-friction particles. Withdrawal of magma was simulated by incrementally reducing the area of the reservoir particles. Resultant gravity-driven failure and subsidence of the reservoir roof were explicitly replicated. Interaction of the roof's strength, Young's modulus, thickness/diameter ratio (T/D), and the reservoir's shape yields a variety of model structures and subsidence styles. In conceptual terms, four end-member subsidence styles developed: (1) “central sagging” favored by low strength and low T/D; (2) “central snapping” favored by high strength, low T/D, and a sill-like reservoir shape; (3) “single central block” favored by low to intermediate strength, high Young's modulus, and intermediate T/D; and (4) “multiple central blocks” favored by high strength, low Young's modulus, and high T/D. Most model realizations incorporated some combination of each style, however. The models provide a geomechanical framework for understanding natural pit crater or caldera structures, as at Nindiri (Nicaragua), Fernandina (Galapagos), Dolomieu (La Reunion), and Miyakejima (Japan).