Evidence of a shallow magma intrusion beneath the NE Rift system of Mt. Etna during 2013 |
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| Authors: | Valentina Bruno Carmelo Ferlito Mario Mattia Carmelo Monaco Massimo Rossi Danila Scandura |
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| Institution: | 1. Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Osservatorio Etneo, Catania, Italy;2. Dipartimento di Scienze Biologiche, Geologiche e Ambientali, Università di Catania, Sezione di Scienze della Terra, Catania, Italy |
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| Abstract: | Continuous GPS (CGPS) data, collected at Mt. Etna between April 2012 and October 2013, clearly define inflation/deflation processes typically observed before/after an eruption onset. During the inflationary process from May to October 2013, a particular deformation pattern localised in the upper North Eastern sector of the volcano suggests that a magma intrusion had occurred a few km away from the axis of the summit craters, beneath the NE Rift system. This is the first time that this pattern has been recorded by CGPS data at Mt. Etna. We believe that this inflation process might have taken place periodically at Mt. Etna and might be associated with the intrusion of batches of magma that are separate from the main feeding system. We provide a model to explain this unusual behaviour and the eruptive regime of this rift zone, which is characterised by long periods of quiescence followed by often dangerous eruptions in which vents can open at low elevation and thus threaten the villages in this sector of the volcano. |
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