Mauricio Bretón

Overview of the 1997^2000 activity of Volcan de Colima, Mexico

Abstract This overview of the 1997–2000 activity of Volcan de Colima is designed to serve as an introduction to the Special Issue and a summary of the detailed studies that follow. New andesitic block lava was first sighted from a helicopter on the morning of 20 November 1998, forming a rapidly growing dome in the summit crater. Numerous antecedents to the appearance of the dome were recognized, starting more than a year in advance, including: (1) pronounced increases in S/Cl and δD values at summit fumaroles in mid-1997; (2) five earthquake swarms between November–December 1997 and October–November 1998, with hypocenters that ranged down to 8 km beneath the summit and became shallower as the eruption approached; (3) steady inflation of the volcano reflected in shortening of geodetic survey line lengths beginning in November–December 1997 and continuing until the start of the eruption; (4) air-borne correlation spectrometer measurements of SO2 that increased from the background values of

Satellite radar data reveal short-term pre-explosive displacements and a complex conduit system at Volcán de Colima, Mexico

The geometry of the volcanic conduit is a main parameter controlling the dynamics and the style of volcanic eruptions and their precursors, but also one of the main unknowns. Pre-eruptive signals that originate in the upper conduit region include seismicity and deformation of different types and scales. However, the locality of the source of these signals and thus the conduit geometry often remain unconstrained at steep sloped and explosive volcanoes due to the sparse instrumental coverage in the summit region and difficult access. Here we infer the shallow conduit system geometry of Volcan de Colima, Mexico, based on ground displacements detected in high resolution satellite radar data up to seven hours prior to an explosion in January 2013. We use Boundary Element Method modeling to reproduce the data synthetically and constrain the parameters of the deformation source, in combination with an analysis of photographs of the summit. We favour a two-source model, indicative of distinct regions of pressurization at very shallow levels. The location of the upper pressurization source coincides with that of post-explosive extrusion; we therefore attribute the displacements to transient (elastic) pre-explosive pressurization of the conduit system. Our results highlight the geometrical complexity of shallow conduit systems at explosive volcanoes and its effect on the distribution of pre-eruptive deformation signals. An apparent absence of such signals at many explosive volcanoes may relate to its small temporal and spatial extent, partly controlled by upper conduit structures. Modern satellite radar instruments allow observations at high spatial and temporal resolution that may be the key for detecting and improving our understanding of the generation of precursors at explosive volcanoes.