Geophysical investigations of the plumbing system of Stromboli volcano (Aeolian Islands, Italy)

Abstract

In this work, we report the results of an integrated approach using both seismological and geodetic data provided by the INGV-CT (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione di Catania) Stromboli volcano monitoring systems, in order to improve the knowledge of its plumbing system. In particular, we investigated the relationships between the June 1999 seismic swarm, occurring in the area of Stromboli, and the possible activation of the NE–SW oriented volcano-tectonic structure. We analyzed this seismic swarm proposing new locations and a morphological analysis of the waveforms. This approach allowed us to demonstrate that there are relationships between the tectonic activity near Stromboli and the rising of magma. This evidence supports the hypothesis that during the 1999 swarm an intrusive process started from a crustal level where earthquakes were located (about 10–15 km b.s.l.). As already testified by other similar episodes (deformation anomaly recorded between December 1994 and March 1995 after the November 1994 swarm), months after the 1999 seismic activity, the tiltmeters and the GPS permanent stations deployed in Stromboli, showed slow variations over three months (May–July 2000). We performed an analytical inversion of these geodetic observations and found that the modelled sources are characterized by NE–SW trend, compatible with the regional faults cutting the volcano. The modelled sources could represent the rising pathway connecting the “deep” plumbing system (about 10–15 km b.s.l.) to the “shallow” one located in the body of the Stromboli volcano (about 500 m a.s.l.). These new evidences support the hypothesis of the existence of a simple plumbing system with different levels of magma storage, where batches of magma are periodically pushed up along the main NE–SW tectonic trend.