title: Magma injection into a long-lived reservoir to explain geodetically measured uplift: Application to the 2007-2014 unrest episode at Laguna del Maule volcanic field, Chile.
abstract: Moving beyond the widely used kinematic models for the deformation sources, we present a new dynamic model to describe the process of injecting magma into an existing magma reservoir. To validate this model, we derive an analytical solution and compare its results to those calculated using the Finite Element Method. A Newtonian fluid characterized by its viscosity, density, and overpressure (relative to the lithostatic value) flows through a vertical conduit, intruding into a reservoir embedded in an elastic domain, leading to an increase in reservoir pressure and time-dependent surface deformation. We apply our injection model to Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) data from the ongoing unrest episode at Laguna del Maule (Chile) volcanic field that started in 2007. Using a grid search optimization, we minimize the misfit to the InSAR displacement data and vary the three parameters governing the analytical solution: the characteristic timescaleτPfor magma propagation, the maximum injection pressure, and the inflection time when the acceleration switches from positive to negative. For a spheroid with semimajor axisa= 6200 m, semiminor axisc= 100 m, located at a depth of 4.5 km in a purely elastic half-space, the best fit to the InSAR displacement data occurs forτP=9.5 years and an injection pressure rising up to 11.5 MPa for 2 years. The volume flow rate increased to 1.2 m3/s for 2 years and then decreased to 0.7 m3/s in 2014. In 7.3 years, at least 187 × 106m3of magma was injected.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geoscience University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison Wisconsin USA.
authors.forename: Hélène
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Le Mével
authors.affiliation: Department of Geology University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Champaign Illinois USA.
authors.forename: Patricia M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Gregg
authors.affiliation: Department of Geoscience University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison Wisconsin USA.
authors.forename: Kurt L
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2059-6708
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Feigl
keywords: InSAR; ground deformation; magma injection; model; unrest; volcano