Response of a hydrothermal system to magmatic heat inferred from temporal variations in the complex frequencies of long-period events at Kusatsu-Shirane Volcano, Japan

Abstract

We investigate temporal variations in the complex frequencies (frequency and quality factor Q) of long-period (LP) events that occurred at Kusatsu-Shirane Volcano, central Japan. We analyze LP waveforms observed at this volcano in the period between 1988 and 1995, which covers a seismically active period between 1989 and 1993. Systematic temporal variations in the complex frequencies are observed in October–November 1989, July–October 1991, and September 1992–January 1993. We use acoustic properties of a crack filled with hydrothermal fluids to interpret the observed temporal variations in the complex frequencies. The temporal variations in October–November 1989 can be divided into two periods, which are explained by a gradual decrease and increase of a gas-volume fraction in a water–steam mixture in a crack, respectively. The temporal variations in July–October 1991 can be also divided into two periods. These variations in the first and second periods are similar to those observed in November 1989 and in September–November 1992, respectively, and are interpreted as drying of a water–steam mixture and misty gas in a crack, respectively. The repeated nature of the temporal variations observed in similar seasons between July and November suggests the existence of seasonality in the occurrence of LP events. This may be caused by a seasonally variable meteoritic water supply to a hydrothermal system, which may have been heated by the flux of volcanic gases from magma beneath this volcano.