Exeter University PhD researcher Rami Alshembari will be visiting us to talk about his ongoing research investigating processes leading to unrest in a poroelastic magma-mush systembelow).

Title: Poroelastic Magma Mush: A New Paradigm for Understanding Volcanic Deformation at Soufriere Hills Volcano

 Abstract:

Understanding and interpreting volcano deformation signals requires a realistic representation of magmatic plumbing systems and the subsurface processes that cause changes in stress and, consequently, surface deformation. Improving representations of magmatic systems, therefore, requires improved rheological considerations of both the mush reservoir and the host rock. Scientists often assume that the reservoir is a large body of molten magma surrounded by an elastic rock when modelling surface deformation. However, recent research suggests that magma reservoirs are more likely to be a mix of molten and solid crystals, known as a magma-mush, in thermally-altered host rock. 

 In this talk, I'll share my ongoing research on applying this conceptual model to Soufriere Hills volcano (SHV) in Montserrat, where ongoing inflation since the last eruption in 2010 suggests that magma is accumulating beneath the volcano. By using cGPS deformation datasets and applying poroelastic theory to the crystalline magma reservoir, we aim to uncover the ongoing processes that lead to this unrest, which is a departure from the current melt-dominated paradigm of shallow magma reservoir studies.

For the first time, we will apply the poroelastic theory to the crystalline magma reservoir in SHV to reveal the ongoing process that leads to unrest.

All welcome.