New details on magma chamber beneath Soufrière Hills volcano

Abstract

Assessing volcano hazard and forecasting eruptions require knowledge of the geometry and properties of a volcano's magma chamber. However, there are few high‐resolution seismic imagery studies of magma chambers. Paulatto et al. used seismic tomography along with numerical models of magma chamber growth to get a better picture of the magma chamber beneath the active Soufrière Hills volcano on the island of Montserrat. Their approach reveals details of the magma system that have not been shown in previous studies. The authors' analysis shows that the magma chamber contains about 13 cubic kilometers of magma, with more than 30% melt faction between about 5.5‐ and 7.5‐kilometer depth. The researchers suggest that the magma chamber could have formed through sill intrusion over several thousand years. (Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (G3), doi:10.1029/2011GC003892, 2012)