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Volcanic Unrest at Taupō Volcano in 2019: Causes, Mechanisms and Implications

Illsley‐Kemp, Finnigan; Barker, Simon J.; Wilson, Colin J.N.; Chamberlain, Calum J.; Hreinsdóttir, Sigrún; Ellis, Susan; Hamling, Ian J.; Savage, Martha K.; Mestel, Eleanor R.H.; Wadsworth, Fabian B.

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Authors

Finnigan Illsley‐Kemp

Simon J. Barker

Colin J.N. Wilson

Calum J. Chamberlain

Sigrún Hreinsdóttir

Susan Ellis

Ian J. Hamling

Martha K. Savage

Eleanor R.H. Mestel



Abstract

Taupō volcano, New Zealand, is a large caldera volcano that has been highly active through the Holocene. It most recently erupted ∼1,800 years ago but there have been multiple periods of historic volcanic unrest. We use seismological and geodetic analysis to show that in 2019 Taupō underwent a period of unrest characterized by increased seismic activity through multiple swarms and was accompanied by ground deformation within the caldera. The earthquakes, which include non-double-couple events, serve to outline an aseismic zone beneath the most recent eruptive vents. This aseismic zone is coincident with an inflating source, based on forward modeling of ground deformation data. We infer that this aseismic and deforming region delineates the location of the present day magma reservoir that is ≥250 km3 in volume and has a melt fraction of >20%–30%, inhibiting seismic activity. Our analysis shows that the 2019 unrest at Taupō was volcanic in nature and origin, demonstrating that this is an active and potentially hazardous volcano, and that improving our monitoring and understanding of its behavior is important.

Citation

Illsley‐Kemp, F., Barker, S. J., Wilson, C. J., Chamberlain, C. J., Hreinsdóttir, S., Ellis, S., …Wadsworth, F. B. (2021). Volcanic Unrest at Taupō Volcano in 2019: Causes, Mechanisms and Implications. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 22(6), https://doi.org/10.1029/2021gc009803

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jun 1, 2021
Online Publication Date Jun 23, 2021
Publication Date 2021-06
Deposit Date Sep 1, 2021
Publicly Available Date Sep 1, 2021
Journal Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems
Electronic ISSN 1525-2027
Publisher American Geophysical Union
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 22
Issue 6
DOI https://doi.org/10.1029/2021gc009803

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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
Advance online version This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.





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