Explosive eruption processes inferred from high-frequency seismic waveforms of eruption tremor and explosion events

Abstract

Summary We investigated the relation between high-frequency seismic signals and eruption size and duration using seismic data of eruption tremor and explosion events generated during sub-Plinian and Vulcanian eruptions, respectively, at various volcanoes. We estimated source amplitude functions from seismic envelope seismograms in the 5−10 Hz band, in which S-waves are assumed to radiate isotropically. Because seismic data associated with explosive eruptions can be contaminated by infrasound signals, we confirmed that contamination did not significantly affect the source amplitude functions quantified from our analysed waveforms. We approximated the source amplitude functions of eruption tremor and explosion events by quadrilateral and triangular shapes. For eruption tremor, the durations of the source amplitude functions increased with decreasing slope of the initial phase, i.e. between onset and maximum amplitude. For explosion events, both the maximum and cumulative amplitudes of the source amplitude functions increased with increasing slope of the initial phase, but the overall durations clustered around a typical value. Moreover, the initial phase durations of eruption tremor were longer than those of explosion events. Based on eruption models proposed by previous studies, Vulcanian and sub-Plinian eruptions have been thought to be triggered by accumulation of magma at a shallow part in a conduit and mixing of cool mushy magma with hot fresh magma in a reservoir, respectively. The above differences between the source amplitude functions of eruption tremor and explosion events can be explained by the distinct eruption triggering processes of sub-Plinian and Vulcanian eruptions. Our results suggest that source amplitude functions are useful for investigating eruption processes and estimating eruption sizes and durations for seismic eruption monitoring.