Examined the seismic events and subsequent volcanic events that occurred in Central America in 2012, hypothesizing a correlation between the events.
Understanding the cause/effect relationship between tectonic earthquakes and volcanic eruptions is the object of the study carried out by an international team of researchers and just published in the article "The increase in the volcanic unrest and number of eruptions after the 2012 large earthquakes sequence in Central Americaon Scientific Reports.
The team of scientists, also made up of researchers from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), wanted to understand whether the occurrence of some volcanic manifestations were a consequence of the impact of seismic waves (for example, a dynamic stress) and of the of the stress field (e.g. effort).
To uncover this relationship, volcanologists looked at what happened in 2012 in Central America. Indeed, in that year, in the span of just over two months (August 27-November 11), Central America was hit by three major earthquakes with a minimum magnitude of 7.3.
A few days later, some volcanoes in the affected region erupted, and others resumed activity after months or years of quiet.
This study analyzes the three earthquakes which were followed by an increase in the number of volcanic eruptions in the 7 years following these seismic events.
“In the study of volcanic phenomena following the three major earthquakes”, says Gino González, fellow of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology and doctoral student at the University of Bari Aldo Moro, “we have found that only volcanoes that were already naturally in a critical state reached the eruptive event. This observation led us to hypothesize that the relevant seismic events were not the cause of the instability of the volcanic system but only the occasion for its eruption".
"The initial question from which we started in this study was to understand if a volcanic eruption can be triggered by an earthquake", says Dmitri Rouwet, researcher at the Bologna Section of INGV and co-author of the study. “Unfortunately, the answer we have arrived at is not certain. It can be 'maybe' or 'it's just a coincidence'. We are still unable to give a certain answer because we lack clear monitoring data which can then offer certain evidence on the relationship between the two natural phenomena".
Charles Darwin, on his expedition to Chile in 1835, witnessed the Concepción earthquake of February 20 of that year. The seismic event had an estimated magnitude of 8.5 and, subsequently, the scientist noticed an increase in activity in some volcanoes.
On this observation, he hypothesized a possible relationship between earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
Giovanni Chiodini, researcher of the Bologna Section of INGV and co-author of the study highlights “Observations of volcanic eruptions following tectonic earthquakes have been reported in several events. For example, the 1707 Plinian eruption of Mount Fuji in Japan was temporally preceded by the magnitude 8.7 Hoei earthquake, which occurred 49 days earlier. Also in Iceland there was an increase in volcanic eruptions after the sequence of earthquakes of 1618 and 1789. The same phenomenon occurred in the case of the Kalapana earthquake in Hawaii of magnitude 7.7 in 1975 which was followed by the eruption of the Kilauea volcano in 1977”.
“From our studio”, continues Gino González, “We have observed that not only the magnitude of earthquakes is important, but also other characteristics such as its duration, frequency and depth. These values can influence the level of volcanic activity alteration such as, for example, variations in the rates of soil deformation, outgassing, heat fluxes and groundwater activity”.
Concluding, Gino González states “As scientists, our hope is the permanent monitoring of active volcanoes to reveal which ones are most likely to culminate in relevant manifestations as a result of a large earthquake".
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The volcanic events in Central America in 2012 as a result of the large earthquakes in the area.
Examined the seismic events and subsequent volcanic events that occurred in Central America in 2012, assuming a correlation between the events.
Understanding the cause/effect relationship between tectonic earthquakes and volcanic eruptions is the subject of the study carried out by an international team of researchers and just published in the article "The increment in the volcanic unrest and number of eruptions after the 2012 large earthquakes sequence in Central America". The article has just been published in Scientific Reports.
The team of scientists, also composed of researchers from the Italian Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Volcanologia (INGV), aim to understand whether the occurrence of some volcanic manifestations were a consequence of the impact of seismic waves (for example, a dynamic stress) and variations in the stress field.
To find out this relationship, volcanologists looked at what happened in 2012 in Central America. In fact, in that year, over a period of just over two months (27 August-11 November), Central America was hit by three major earthquakes with a minimum magnitude of 7.3.
A few days after the earthquakes, some volcanoes in the affected region erupted, while others resumed their activity after months or years of quiescence.
This study analyzes the three earthquakes which were followed by an increase in the number of volcanic eruptions in the 7 years that followed these seismic events.
"In the study of the volcanic phenomena following the three major earthquakes", says Gino González, fellow of the INGV and doctoral student at the University of Bari Aldo Moro, "we found that only those volcanoes erupted that were already naturally in a critical state. This observation led us to hypothesize that the relevant seismic events were not the cause of the increased unrest of the volcanic system but only the occasion for its eruption".
"The initial question from which we started in this study was to understand whether a volcanic eruption can be triggered by an earthquake", says Dmitri Rouwet, researcher of INGV-Bologna and co-author of the study. "Unfortunately, the answer reached is not certain. It could be 'maybe' or 'it is just a coincidence.' We are still unable to provide a certain answer because we lack clear monitoring data which could offer certain proofs on the relationship between the two natural phenomena".
Charles Darwin, on his expedition to Chile in 1835, witnessed the Concepcion earthquake of February 20 of that year. The seismic event had an estimated magnitude of 8.5 and, subsequently, the scientist noticed an increase in activity at some volcanoes.
On this observation, he hypothesized a possible relationship between earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
Giovanni Chiodini, researcher of INGV-Bologna and co-author of the study highlights: "The observations of volcanic eruptions that occurred after tectonic earthquakes have been reported in various events. For example, the Plinian eruption of Mount Fuji in Japan in 1707 was temporally preceded by the 8.7 magnitude Hoei earthquake, which occurred 49 days earlier. Also, in Iceland there was an increase in volcanic eruptions after the 1618 and 1789 earthquake sequences. The same dynamics occurred in the case of the Kalapana earthquake in Hawaii of magnitude 7.7 in 1975, which was followed by an eruption of Kilauea volcano in 1977".
"From our study", continues Gino González, "we observed that not only the magnitude of the earthquake is important, and other aspect as duration, frequency or depth could play a role in the influence of the alterations in volcanic activity such as variations in the rates of soil deformation, outgassing and heat fluxes, groundwater activity and sure, volcanic eruptions".
Concluding, Gino González states “As scientists, our goal is to permanently monitor active volcanoes in real-time to reveal which volcanoes are most likely to culminate in relevant manifestations as a consequence of a large-magnitude earthquake”.
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Photo 1 - Eruption of the San Cristóbal volcano, Nicaragua, three days after the Costa Rican earthquake of September 5, 2012. Photo by INETER.
Photo 1 - Eruption of the San Cristóbal volcano, Nicaragua, three days after the Costa Rican earthquake of 5 September 2012. Photo credit INETER.
Photo 2 - Eruption of the Fuego volcano, Guatemala, eight days after the Costa Rican earthquake of September 5, 2012. Photo de INSIVUMEH.
2 Photo - Eruption of the Fuego volcano, Guatemala, eight days after the Costa Rican earthquake of 5 September 2012. Photo credit INSIVUMEH.
Fig. - Area analyzed in the recent study where the 2012 earthquakes increased the number of volcanic eruptions. Drawing by González et al., 2021.
Image - Area analyzed in the recent study where the 2012 earthquakes increased the number of volcanic eruptions. Drawing by González et al., 2021.