ALBERT

Description: The distribution and the interconnection of magmatic bodies beneath volcanic arcs is key to asses volcanic hazard and eruptive processes taking place at convergent margins. We use ambient seismic noise Rayleigh-wave tomography to investigate the three-dimensional shear-wave crustal velocity structure of the Southern Central Andes between latitudes 33°S and 38°S (for the upper 30 km). We investigate the occurrence of magmatic reservoirs in the upper crust and show how their geometry is affected by local tectonics. The first prominent feature to be observed is the shear-wave velocity contrast between the volcanic arc and the faster fore-arc region. We further identify areas of low shear-wave velocity from 3 km to 10 km depth beneath the volcanic arc, striking N-S, that we interpret as zones of fluid-rich crust, possibly characterised by confined regions of partial melts. Our results allow us to derive a model for the crustal structure of the Southern Central Andes. We propose that partial melts, marked by lower shear-wave velocity anomalies, are connected to shallower structural levels and reservoirs by brittle regions where dikes and exsolved fluids may propagate.

Description: The Anillo is a dense temporary seismic and geodetic network extending approximately 200 km along the strike of the subduction zone in North Chile in order to investigate how earthquakes and aseismic slip scale over a broader spectrum of source sizes, to understand the complex relationships between seismic and aseismic deformation, and to identify possible structural controls. This experiment is embedded into a larger scale experimental effort carried out by institutions in Germany and Chile. Waveform data are available from the GEOFON data centre, under network code Y6.

Description: We deployed a dense geodetic and seismological network in the Atacama seismic gap in Chile. We derive a microseismicity catalog of 〉30,000 events, time series from 70 GNSS stations, and utilize a transdimensional Bayesian inversion to estimate interplate locking. We identify two highly locked regions of different sizes whose geometries appear to control seismicity patterns. Interface seismicity concentrates beneath the coastline, just downdip of the highest locking. A region with lower locking (27.5°S–27.7°S) coincides with higher seismicity levels, a high number of repeating earthquakes and events extending toward the trench. This area is situated where the Copiapó Ridge is subducted and has shown previous indications of both seismic and aseismic slip, including an earthquake sequence in 2020. While these findings suggest that the structure of the downgoing oceanic plate prescribes patterns of interplate locking and seismicity, we note that the Taltal Ridge further north lacks a similar signature.

Description: Large subduction earthquakes induce complex postseismic deformation, primarily driven by afterslip and viscoelastic relaxation, in addition to interplate relocking processes. However, these signals are intricately intertwined, posing challenges in determining the timing and nature of relocking. Here, we use six years of continuous GNSS measurements (2015–2021) to study the spatiotemporal evolution of afterslip, seismicity and locking after the 2015 Illapel earthquake ( M w 8.3). Afterslip is inverted from postseismic displacements corrected for nonlinear viscoelastic relaxation modeled using a power‑law rheology, and the distribution of locking is obtained from the linear trend of GNSS stations. Our results show that afterslip is mainly concentrated in two zones surrounding the region of largest coseismic slip. The accumulated afterslip (corresponding to M w 7.8) exceeds 1.5 m, with aftershocks mainly occurring at the boundaries of the afterslip patches. Our results reveal that the region experiencing the largest coseismic slip undergoes rapid relocking, exhibiting the behavior of a persistent velocity weakening asperity, with no observed aftershocks or afterslip within this region during the observed period. The rapid relocking of this asperity may explain the almost regular recurrence time of earthquakes in this region, as similar events occurred in 1880 and 1943.

Description: Volcano seismology is an essential tool for monitoring volcanic processes in the advent and during eruptions. A variety of seismic signals can be recorded at volcanoes, of which some are thought to be related to the migration of fluids which is of primary importance for the anticipation of imminent eruptions. We investigate the volcanic crises at Villarrica volcano in 2015 and report on a newly discovered very-long-period (VLP) signal that accompanies phases of periodic long period (LP) signal burst. Despite their low amplitude emergent character, we can locate the source region of the 1 Hz LP signals to the close vicinity of the volcano using a network-based correlation method. The source of the VLP signal with a period of about 30–100 s appears to locate in the vicinity of two stations a few kilometres from the summit. Both stations record very similar VLP waveforms that are correlated with the envelope of the LP bursts. A shallow magma reservoir was inferred by Contreras from surface deformation as the source of inflation following the eruption in 2015. Cyclic volume changes of 6 m3 in this reservoir at 3 km depth can explain the observed amplitudes of the vertical VLP signal. We propose that the LP signal is generated by the migration of gas or gas-rich magma that is periodically released from the inflating reservoir through a non-linear valve structure which modulates the flux, and thereby causes bursts of flow-related LP signals and pressure changes observed as VLP deformation. Our model predicts that the correlated occurrence of LP bursts and VLP surface motion depends on the intensity of the fluid flux. A weaker flux of fluids may not exceed the opening pressure of valve structure, and higher rates might maintain pressure above the closing pressure. In both cases, the VLP signal vanishes. Our observation provides constrains for models of fluid transport inside volcanoes. At Villarrica the VLP signal, and its relation to the LP activity, reveal additional information about fluxes in the magmatic reservoir that might aide forecasting of volcanic activity.