Abstract
Poor scaling between elastic energy release and eruption intensity at Tungurahua Volcano, Ecuador
Department of Earth Sciences, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire, USA
Department of Geological Sciences, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
Instituto Geofisico, Escuela Politecnica Nacional (IG-EPN), Quito, Ecuador
Department of Geological Sciences, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
Instituto Geofisico, Escuela Politecnica Nacional (IG-EPN), Quito, Ecuador
An important objective in volcanology is the quantification of eruption intensity through the study of elastic energy propagated into the atmosphere and ground. To better understand the relation between elastic wave radiation and eruptive activity we deployed seismic, acoustic, and video instrumentation at the active Tungurahua Volcano (Ecuador) in Nov.–Dec. of 2004. Our data show that plume expansion scales very poorly with both seismic and acoustic trace energy and only the initial amplitude of the acoustic signal is perhaps correlated with initial plume rise speeds. In general, the eventual size of Tungurahua eruption plumes does not appear to be controlled by elevated material accelerations within the conduit, which are primary influences on elastic energy radiation. This result has vital implications for volcano observatories, which are interested in using seismic and acoustic trace amplitudes as proxies for eruption magnitudes.
Received 27 February 2005; accepted 28 June 2005; published 4 August 2005.
Citation: (2005), Poor scaling between elastic energy release and eruption intensity at Tungurahua Volcano, Ecuador, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L15304, doi:10.1029/2005GL022847.
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