Orazi, Massimo

We present an overview of the volcanic seismicity recorded at Stromboli from January to September 2003. The data set starts few weeks after the onset of the eruption and covers most of the effusive phase and the subsequent recovery of the explosive activity. The most important variations occurred between May and July coinciding with the waning of the lava flow and the reappearance of Strombolian activity at the summit craters. All the parameters indicate that the shallow magmatic system has not undergone permanent changes during this period. The only significant variation related to the shallow conduit is the increase in volcanic tremor amplitude and the change in the spectral content of long-period events during the transition between effusive and explosive activity. A slight increase in the very-long-period (VLP) events source elevation seems to mark the rise of the magma at the end of the effusive phase. The variations in the VLP events occurrence rate are more likely to be attributed to changes in the gas flow rate and the bubble coalescence mechanism, therefore, to a deeper portion of the magmatic system. The 5 April paroxysm is associated only with a small increase of the activity in the following days.

Between April 10th and May 22th 2006, a small seismic swarm of 5 volcano-tectonic events occurred on the volcanic island of Stromboli (Southern Italy). Two of these, having M > 3 and an intensity of about V-VI MCS, were clearly felt causing concern in the population. They were recorded during a period of increased explosive activity and were followed by two major explosions at the summit craters on May 22th, few hours after the last earthquake and on 16th June. The location of such events has been performed using a probabilistic approach based on the Equal Differential Time tecnique. Using this tecnique, we were able to locate all the events, showing how they cluster below the volcanic edifice at a depth of about 5÷6 km. From observed P wave polarities we determined the focal mechanisms of the 4 major events. Using earthquake scaling nlaws, we calculated the fault area and the average slip for the two major events. Finally, assuming an homogeneous half-space model we computed the isotropic stress changes below the volcano edifice. The negative stress variation over the central axis of the volcano suggests that the earthquakes were triggered by a pressurization of the magmatic system.