MagmaKammern: Surface Loading Changes as Top-Down Controls on Magma Reservoir Formation

• Applicant: Professorin Eleonora Rivalta, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Palaeontology ; Geophysics
• Term: from 2016 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 324901496

• Final Report Year: 2024

Final Report Abstract

The plan for this project was to reveal how a volcano’s shape (stratovolcano vs. caldera) and growth history influences the depth and construction of magma storage. The plan was to simulate the ascent pathways of magma by means of numerical and analog models of dike propagation. Previous studies have shown that the loading of a volcanic edifice rotates the principal stresses, thereby steering ascending dikes to focus below the edifices. Surface mass destruction events, such as the formation of a caldera, cause instead a de-focusing of ascending dikes, steering them to erupt offset from the center of the volcano (for example under the rims). We planned to simulate the incremental growth of a magma chamber below a stratovolcano and below a caldera in different tectonic contexts. We planned to study how the different shapes of volcanoes and typical loading histories and cycles affect the incremental accumulation of dikes into magma reservoirs and link the model results to observations including crustal deformation, seismology, magnetotelluric and petrology. At this aim, we planned to simulate the ascent of dikes one after the other, considering dikereservoir and dike-dike interaction, with the background stress due to a surface load and tectonic stress. When the dike is distant, the surface loading and tectonic stress will dominate. Once the dike approaches the storage zone, the stress induced by previously arrested dikes will be proportionally stronger and the dikes will deviate. Dike-dike interaction and the effects of surface loads have been studied separately in the past but never taken together. The question of reservoir formation has been addressed in terms of petrology, geochemistry, thermal development and rock rheology, but never mechanically including stresses controlling the dikes. Crustal deformation studies however show broad patterns that fit well with the idea that surface loads play a strong control on the shape and depth of the magma storage system: calderas are related to sills or top-flatted reservoirs, while stratovolcanoes are linked to vertically developed reservoirs such as ellipsoids. We will go to the root of the process with our simulations. Our new models will be applied to stratovolcanoes and calderas in different tectonic environments to compare the model results with observations. Our project will open a new perspective on magma reservoir research, that has never been investigated before: The top-down controls of surface mass changes on the shape and depth of shallow magma storage zones.

Publications

• Magma propagation by diking: geophysical observations and mechanical models of the pathways followed by fluid-filled cracks. Geo-Energy Laboratory, EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland
  Rivalta E.
  
• The effect of giant lateral collapses on magma pathways and the location of volcanism. Nature Communications, 8(1).
  Maccaferri, Francesco; Richter, Nicole & Walter, Thomas R.
  
• Quantifying state-of-stress and surface deformation in magmatic rift zones: Eastern Rift, Africa. In AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts (Vol. 2018, pp. V31H-0222). (2018, December)
  Oliva, S. J. C., Ebinger, C., Rivalta, E., Wauthier, C. & Williams Jr, C. A.
  
• Insights Into Fault‐Magma Interactions in an Early‐Stage Continental Rift From Source Mechanisms and Correlated Volcano‐Tectonic Earthquakes. Geophysical Research Letters, 46(4), 2065-2074.
  Oliva, S. J.; Ebinger, C. J.; Wauthier, C.; Muirhead, J. D.; Roecker, S. W.; Rivalta, E. & Heimann, S.
  
• Magma ascent and trajectory below impact craters on the Moon and terrestrial planets. In AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts (Vol. 2019, pp. V12A-02). 2019, December
  Michaut, C., Pinel, V., Maccaferri, F. & Walwer, D.
  
• The 2018-2019 seismo-volcanic crisis offshore Mayotte: depletion of a deep offshore magmatic reservoir. In AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts (Vol. 2019, pp. V52D-04). 2019, December
  Cesca, S., Letort, J., Razafindrakoto, H.N., Heimann, S., Rivalta, E., Isken, M., Passarelli, L., Nikkhoo, M., Petersen, G.M., Cotton, F. & Dahm, T.
  
• The impact of unloading stresses on post-caldera magma intrusions. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 508, 109-121.
  Gaete, Ayleen; Kavanagh, Janine L.; Rivalta, Eleonora; Hilmi, Hazim Suraya; Walter, Thomas R. & Dennis, David J.C.
  
• Understanding the top-down controls of surface loading on magma reservoir formation. In EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts (p. 16376). 2019, April
  Dagoy, J.A., Rivalta, E. & Maccaferri, F.
  
• Boundary Element Dyke Propagation Code. 2020
  Maccaferri, F., Rivalta, E. & Bonafede, M.
  
• Drainage of a deep magma reservoir near Mayotte inferred from seismicity and deformation. Nature Geoscience, 13(1), 87-93.
  Cesca, Simone; Letort, Jean; Razafindrakoto, Hoby N. T.; Heimann, Sebastian; Rivalta, Eleonora; Isken, Marius P.; Nikkhoo, Mehdi; Passarelli, Luigi; Petersen, Gesa M.; Cotton, Fabrice & Dahm, Torsten
  
• The rebirth and evolution of Bezymianny volcano, Kamchatka after the 1956 sector collapse. Communications Earth & Environment, 1(1).
  Shevchenko, Alina V.; Dvigalo, Viktor N.; Walter, Thomas R.; Mania, Rene; Maccaferri, Francesco; Svirid, Ilya Yu.; Belousov, Alexander B. & Belousova, Marina G.
  
• Volcano‐Wide Deformation After the 2017 Erta Ale Dike Intrusion, Ethiopia, Observed With Radar Interferometry. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 125(8).
  Xu, Wenbin; Xie, Lei; Aoki, Yosuke; Rivalta, Eleonora & Jónsson, Sigurjón
  
• When water meets fire: The Effects of Hydrologically-Related Processes in Long Valley Caldera at Multiple Temporal and Spatial Scales (G015-08), AGU Fall Meeting 2020, online. (Oral presentation)When water meets fire: The Effects of Hydrologically-Related Processes in Long Valley Caldera at Multiple Temporal and Spatial Scales (G015-08), AGU Fall Meeting 2020, online. (Oral presentation)
  Silverii, F., Pulvirenti, F. S., Montgomery-Brown, E. K., Borsa, A. A., Barbour, A. J. & Neely, W.
  
• A New Analysis of Caldera Unrest through the Integration of Geophysical Data and FEM Modeling: The Long Valley Caldera Case Study. Remote Sensing, 13(20), 4054.
  Pulvirenti, Fabio; Silverii, Francesca & Battaglia, Maurizio
  
• Effect of stratovolcanic edifices on timescales of mafic magma ascent: case study from Puyehue-Cordón Caulle, Chile. Goldschmidt2021 abstracts, 2021. European Association of Geochemistry.
  Chamberlain, Katy; Morgan, Dan; Lara, Luis & Rivalta, Eleonora
  
• Modelling magma pathways and magma storage scenarios in the Eifel volcanic area, Physics of Volcanoes 2021 Workshop PoV-7, 03/2021. (Oral presentation)
  Armeni, V., Silverii, F., Mantiloni, L. & Rivalta, E.
  
• The 2011-2019 Long Valley Caldera inflation: New insights from separation of superimposed geodetic signals and 3D modeling. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 569, 117055.
  Silverii, F.; Pulvirenti, F.; Montgomery-Brown, E.K.; Borsa, A.A. & Neely, W.R.
  
• The build-up and triggers of volcanic eruptions. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, 2(7), 458-476.
  Caricchi, Luca; Townsend, Meredith; Rivalta, Eleonora & Namiki, Atsuko
  
• The Effects of Hydrologically-Related Processes in Long Valley Caldera at Multiple Temporal and Spatial Scales. Volcano Tectonic Links, Virtual Research Symposium, online, 26/04/2021. (Oral presentation)
  Silverii, F., Pulvirenti, F. S., Montgomery-Brown, E. K., Borsa, A. A., Barbour, A. J. & Neely, W.
  
• What pathways for ascending magma? Implications for geophysics and petrology, IAVCEI webinar. 2021
  Rivalta, E.
  
• Local state of stress and implications on subsurface rift magmatism and stress localization. In AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts (Vol. 2022, pp. V13A-01). (2022, December)
  Oliva, S. J. C., Ebinger, C. J., Rivalta, E., Williams, C. A., Wauthier, C. & Currie, C. A.
  
• Modeling the eruption of magma within impact craters in the Highlands of Venus. Copernicus GmbH.
  Le Contellec, Alexandra; Michaut, Chloé; Maccaferri, Francesco & Pinel, Virginie
  
• Modelling the Mysteries of Magma Transport, Volcanic and Igneous Plumbing Systems, IAVCEI, 2022
  Davis, T.
  
• Spatial shifts in magma pathways and eruptive vent locations controlled by evolving lithospheric stresses, 101st Journées Luxembourgeoises de Géodynamique, INTRACONTINENTAL BASALTIC VOLCANIC FIELDS, Development and testing of hypotheses, 4-7 September 2022, Luxemburg
  Rivalta, E., T. Davis, L. Mantiloni, G. Ferrante, L. Passarelli, F. Maccaferri, F. Corbi, V. Acocella & V. Pinel
  
• Spatio-temporal evolution of rift volcanism driven by progressive crustal unloading. Copernicus GmbH.
  Ferrante, Gaetano; Rivalta, Eleonora & Maccaferri, Francesco
  
• State of stress and stress rotations: Quantifying the role of surface topography and subsurface density contrasts in magmatic rift zones (Eastern Rift, Africa). Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 584, 117478.
  Oliva, Sarah Jaye; Ebinger, Cynthia J.; Rivalta, Eleonora; Williams, Charles A.; Wauthier, Christelle & Currie, Claire A.
  
• Magmatic connectivity among six Galápagos volcanoes revealed by satellite geodesy. Nature Communications, 14(1).
  Reddin, Eoin; Ebmeier, Susanna K.; Rivalta, Eleonora; Bagnardi, Marco; Baker, Scott; Bell, Andrew F.; Mothes, Patricia & Aguaiza, Santiago
  
• Towards scientific forecasting of magmatic eruptions. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, 5(1), 5-22.
  Acocella, Valerio; Ripepe, Maurizio; Rivalta, Eleonora; Peltier, Aline; Galetto, Federico & Joseph, Erouscilla
  
• Spatio-temporal evolution of rift volcanism controlled top-down by a deepening graben. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 629, 118593.
  Ferrante, Gaetano; Rivalta, Eleonora & Maccaferri, Francesco