Collaborative Research: Seismic Reflection Imaging of Volcanic Cycles at the East Pacific Rise 9 50'N on Decadal Timescales

Volcanoes on land are often in remote locations making studying them challenging. This study will focus on the volcanically active East Pacific Rise which observations show could erupt soon. The project will image the magmatic system at a location where previous data was collected in 2008.

This will allow a unique time-lapse study of how the melt bodies have evolved over decadal timescales. This study will advance understanding of volcanic systems in the oceans and on the land and will provide training for graduate students and early career scientists. Access to the data from this first of a kind time lapse seismic experiment will be openly available.

To study volcanic cycles on decadal timescales, this project will conduct a 3-D multichannel seismic survey at the 9°50’N segment of the East Pacific Rise, repeating the same experiment conducted in 2008 on board R/V Marcus G. Langseth. The two 3-D seismic volumes will be processed together, using the latest elastic full waveform inversion techniques, to obtain high-resolution imagery that will be used to investigate how the magmatic and hydrothermal plumbing systems beneath the spreading axis have changed since 2008.

The time-lapse imagery will allow testing of long-debated hypotheses about the eruption cycle for the first time by distinguishing characteristic changes in the shape and melt content of the magmatic system. The sea-going data acquisition will be complemented by access to the latest seismic data processing techniques through partnership with industry contractors.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.