Phenomenological evidence in favor of a remote seismic coupling for large volcanic eruptions

Abstract

A correlation has been recently found between large earthquakes and the succeeding largest 9 explosive eruptions of the last century, which has been interpreted as a product of co- and post-seismic stress diffusion. Here, we check the statistical significance of the proposed coupling by using a larger dataset, and investigate the reliability of the causality hypothesis. We find that the volcanoes with VEI ≥ 4 eruptions underwent, in the few decades before the volcanic event, higher seismic stress perturbations due to large earthquakes compared to other volcanic areas. The correlation is statistically significant and it is not explained by a spatio-temporal clustering of eruptions and earthquakes due to tectonic pulses. This implies that the large earthquakes indeed triggered the eruptions.