V043-05
Seismic imaging of the internal workings of Axial Seamount on the Juan de Fuca Ridge.

Wednesday, 16 December 2020: 11:46
Virtual
Adrien F Arnulf1, Steffen Saustrup2, Tanner Eischen3, Alistair J Harding4, Graham M Kent5, Suzanne M Carbotte6, Michelle Lee7, Juan Pablo Canales8, Mladen R Nedimovic9, Ettore Biondi10, Guillaume Barnier11, Biondo Leonardo Biondi10 and Robert Graham Clapp12, (1)Institute for Geophysics, Austin, TX, United States, (2)University of Texas at Austin, Institute for Geophysics, Austin, United States, (3)University of Texas, Institute for Geophysics, Institute for Geophysics, Austin, United States, (4)Scripps Institution of Oceanog, La Jolla, CA, United States, (5)University of Nevada Reno, Nevada Seismological Laboratory, Reno, NV, United States, (6)Lamont-Doherty Earth Obs, Palisades, NY, United States, (7)Columbia University of New York City, New York, NY, United States, (8)Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst, Geology and Geophysics, Woods Hole, MA, United States, (9)Dahousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada, (10)Stanford University, Geophysics, Stanford, CA, United States, (11)Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States, (12)Stanford University, Geophysics, Palo Alto, United States
Recorded Presentation
Abstract:
Understanding the internal dynamics of volcanoes has been a long-standing goal of earth sciences, with much progress made over the past several decades. During this time, improved seismic acquisition technologies and imaging techniques have made it possible to image, in unprecedented detail, complex magma chamber structure and fluid pathways/fractures in the oceanic crust. These breakthroughs represent an unprecedented opportunity to make a transformative jump in our understanding of the internal workings of Axial Seamount specifically and, more generally,of volcanoes worldwide.

In this presentation, we will review observations of key structures imaged on existing 2D seismic transects using state-of-the-art wavefield-based imaging techniques. We will also present our most recent results from a recently acquired 3-D seismic survey over the volcanic edifice (the NSF-funded AXIAL 3D expedition, MGL1905). These structures include multiple magma reservoirs overlyingnarrow feeding conduit of vertically stacked melt lenses; a subsiding caldera and a network of fractures, uniquely imaged here, that might facilitate transport of magmatic and hydrothermal fluids and help relieve stress buildup within the volcanic edifice.

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