Laguna del Maule volcanic unrest: one of the fastest uplifting volcanoes
Analyzing data from Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) and the Global Posititioning System (GPS) I have shown that the ground surface uplifted by more than 2 meters since the onset in 2006 with varying uplift rates. A notable acceleration was observed starting in late 2018. Using analytic and numerical models I modeled the source of the deformation as a magmatic intrusion (sill) around 5 km depth. This study was started during my PhD as part of a large NSF-funded multidisciplinary project led by Brad Singer (UW Madison).
Collaborators: Kurt Feigl (UW Madison), Chuck DeMets (UW Madison), Brad Singer (UW Madison), Nathan Andersen (now at USGS), Loreto Córdova (OVDAS), Carlos Cardona (OVDAS), Basil Tikoff (UW Madison), Craig Miller (GNS Science), Glyn Williams-Jones (Simon Fraser University).
Status: completed.
Publications:
Le Mével, H., Córdova, L., Cardona, C., & Feigl, K. L. (2021). Unrest at the Laguna del Maule volcanic field 2005–2020: Renewed acceleration of deformation. Bulletin of Volcanology, 83(6), 39. doi:/10.1007/s00445-021-01457-0
Singer, B. S., Le Mével, H., Licciardi, J. M., Córdova, L., Tikoff, B., Garibaldi, N., Andersen, N.L., Diefenbach, A.K & Feigl, K. L. (2018). Geomorphic expression of rapid Holocene silicic magma reservoir growth beneath Laguna del Maule, Chile. Science advances, 4(6), doi:/10.1126/sciadv.aat1513.
Miller, C. A., Le Mével, H., Currenti, G., Williams-Jones, G, Tikoff, B. (2017). Microgravity changes at the Laguna del Maule volcanic field: Magma-induced stress changes facilitate mass addition. Journal of Geophysical Research, 122, doi:/10.1002/2017JB014048.
Le Mével, H., Gregg, P., Feigl, K. L. (2016). Magma injection into a long-lived reservoir to explain geodetically measured uplift: application to the 2007–2014 unrest episode at Laguna del Maule volcanic field, Chile. Journal of Geophysical Research, 121, doi:/10.1002/2016JB013066.
Le Mével, H., Feigl, K. L., Córdova, L., DeMets, C., & Lundgren, P. (2015). Evolution of unrest at Laguna del Maule volcanic field (Chile) from InSAR and GPS measurements, 2003 to 2014. Geophysical Research Letters, 42(16), 6590–6598, doi:/10.1002/2015GL064665.
Singer, B. S., Andersen, N. L., Le Mével, H., Feigl, K. L., DeMets, C., Tikoff, B., Thurber, C., et al. (2014). Dynamics of a large, restless, rhyolitic magma system at Laguna del Maule, southern Andes, Chile. GSA Today, 24(12), doi:/10.1130/GSATG216A.1.
Feigl, K. L., Le Mével, H., Ali, S. T., Córdova, L., Andersen, N. L., DeMets, C., & Singer, B. S. (2014). Rapid uplift in Laguna del Maule volcanic field of the Andean Southern Volcanic zone (Chile) 2007–2012. Geophysical Journal International, 196(2), 885-901, doi:/10.1093/gji/ggt438.