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Seismic activity of Erebus volcano, antarctica

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Abstract

Mount Erebus is presently the only Antarctic volcano with sustained eruptive activity in the past few years. It is located on Ross Island and a convecting anorthoclase phonolite lava lake has occupied the summit crater of Mount Erebus from January 1973 to September 1984. A program to monitor the seismic activity of Mount Erebus named IMESS was started in December 1980 as an international cooperative program among Japan, the United States and New Zealand. A new volcanic episode began on 13 September, 1984 and continued until December.

Our main observations from the seismic activity from 1982–1985 are as follows: (1) The average numbers of earthquakes which occurred around Mount Erebus in 1982, 1983 and January–August 1984 were 64, 134 and 146 events per day, respectively. Several earthquake swarms occurred each year. (2) The averag number of earthquakes in 1985 is 23 events per day, with only one earthquake swarm. (3) A remarkable decrease of the background seismicity is recognized before and after the September 1984 activity. (4) Only a few earthquakes were located in the area surrounding Erebus mountain after the September 1984 activity.

A magma reservoir is estimated to be located in the southwest area beneath the Erebus summit, based on the hypocenter distributions of earthquakes.

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  1. National Institute of Polar Research, 9-10, Kaga 1-chome, Itabashi-ku, 173, Tokyo, Japan

    Katsutada Kaminuma

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  1. Katsutada Kaminuma
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Kaminuma, K. Seismic activity of Erebus volcano, antarctica. PAGEOPH 125, 993–1008 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00879364

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00879364

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