Composite ground deformation pattern forerunning the 2004–2005 Mount Etna eruption

Abstract

After the end of the 2002–2003 eruption, Mount Etna activity was characterized only by gentle degassing at the summit craters and some earthquake swarms. Suddenly, an eruption started on 7 September 2004 in complete absence of summit crater volcanic activity, seismicity or seismic tremor, and ground deformation. This is the first time that magma poured out passively without preeruptive and coeruptive volcanic and/or geophysical phenomena. The primary key to understanding this event is represented by the ground deformation pattern recorded through GPS measurements during the year before the eruption. The ground deformation shows inflation superimposed by a predominant eastward movement of the eastern sector at a rate never observed before in a noneruptive period. The images from satellite radar interferometry confirmed this pattern. The deformation field clearly shows that the maximum tension in the eastern sector of the volcano caused the opening of the eruptive fracture which favored the silent pouring out of already resident magma.