Repeated Self-Potential Profiling of Izu-Oshima Volcano, Japan

Abstract

Between March 1989 and March 1994, annual self-potential (SP) surveys were carried out on Izu-Oshima, a small volcanic island. A terrain-related SP distribution of about -1 mV per meter of elevation was observed outside the caldera in all five surveys. Inside the caldera, SP increases from about -350 mV to near 0 mV (relative to the coastline) as the summit crater is approached, although negative anomalies of small spatial extent are manifest. Self-potential inside the caldera decreased by about 100 mV between the March 1989 and the March 1990 surveys, which appears to be correlated with a significant decline in the degassing rate from the summit crater. After 1990, the SP distribution is quite steady along the entire survey line which extends from the west coast through the southern part of the caldera, and ends east of Ura-sabaku. Recently a postprocessor has been developed to calculate space/time distributions of electrokinetic potentials resulting from histories of underground conditions (pressure, temperature, salt concentration, flowrate etc.) computed by multiphase multi-component unsteady geothermal reservoir simulations (Ishido and Pritchett, 1996). We applied this postprocessor to a simple two-dimensional model of hydrothermal activity in a volcanic island. The low potentials in areas of high elevation are reproduced in the model, and are caused by downflow of meteoric waters. The high potential centered at the summit crater is found to be produced by upflows of volcanic gas and vapor which diminish meteoric water downflow near the volcanic conduit.