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Tomographic results for P-and S-wave velocity structure beneath the active Aso Volcano, Kyushu, Japan, using 800 well-recorded earthquakes and ten shots recorded by an eight-station seismic network, are presented. A 68% variance reduction was achieved upon simultaneous inversion for hypocenter and velocity structure. Well-resolved velocity anomalies associated with the active crater reveal heterogeneity up to 26% slower and 18% faster in P velocity, and up to 31% slower and 22% faster in S velocity, than the one-dimensional model. The largest anomaly is seen over the upper 11 km in the central and northern parts beneath the central cones. Two low-velocity regions are imaged. The first region, a 10×15-km region encompassing the upper 3 km centered near the caldera wall at Tateno Valley, is characterized by P velocities up to 19% slower (20% for S). The second low-velocity region is associated with the central cones and active magma conduit system at 6 km depth. Velocities as low as 4.3 km/s (up to 26%) in P and 2 km/s (31% slower) in S characterize the 7-km-wide volume. The magma chamber is roughly spherical in shape, centered at 6 km depth, flattens at 10 km depth, and is located between Mt. Kishima, Mt. Eboshi, and Mt. Naka, the present focus of magmatism. A sharp velocity contrast at the depth of 3 km, with high velocities to the southwest and lower velocities to the northeast, characterizes different abutting structures associated with the Oita-Kumamoto Tectonic Line.

Abstract.To

Broadband seismometers deployed at Aso volcano in Japan have detected a hydrothermal reservoir 1 to 1.5 kilometers beneath the crater that is continually resonating with periods as long as 15 seconds. When phreatic eruptions are observed, broadband seismograms elucidate a dynamic interplay between the reservoir and discharging flow along the conduit: gradual pressurization and long-period (approximately20 seconds) pulsations of the reservoir during the 100 to 200 seconds before the initiation of the discharge, followed by gradual deflation of the reservoir concurrent with the discharging flow. The hydrothermal reservoir, where water and heat from the deeper magma chamber probably interact, appears to help control the surface activity at Aso volcano.

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