Velocity variations associated with the large 2010 eruption of Merapi volcano, Java, retrieved from seismic multiplets and ambient noise cross-correlation

Abstract

We present a study of the seismic velocity variations that occurred in the structure before the large 2010 eruption of Merapi volcano. For the first time to our knowledge, the technique of coda wave interferometry is applied to both families of similar events (multiplets) and to correlation functions of seismic noise. About half of the seismic events recorded at the summit stations belong to one of the ten multiplets identified, including 120 similar events that occurred in the last 20 hr preceding the eruption onset. Daily noise cross-correlation functions (NCF) were calculated for the six pairs of short-period stations available. Using the stretching method, we estimate time-series of apparent velocity variation (AVV) for each multiplet and each pair of stations. No significant velocity change is detected until September 2010. From 10 October to the beginning of the eruption on 26 October, a complex pattern of AVV is observed with amplitude of up to ±1.5 per cent. Velocity decrease is first observed from families of deep events and then from shallow earthquakes. In the same period, AVV with different signs and chronologies are estimated from NCF calculated for various station pairs. The location in the horizontal plane of the velocity perturbations related with the AVV obtained from NCF is estimated by using an approach based on the radiative transfer approximation. Although their spatial resolution is limited, the resulting maps display velocity decrease in the upper part of the edifice in the period 12–25 October. After the eruption onset, the pattern of velocity perturbations is significantly modified with respect to the previous one. We interpret these velocity variations in the framework of a scenario of magmatic intrusion that integrates most observations. The perturbation of the stress field associated with the magma migration can induce both decrease and increase of the seismic velocity of rocks. Thus the detected AVVs can be considered as precursors of volcanic eruptions in andesitic volcanoes, without taking their sign into account.