Shallow pressure sources associated with the 2007 and 2014 phreatic eruptions of Mt. Ontake, Japan the Phreatic Eruption of Mt. Ontake Volcano in 2014 5. Volcanology

Abstract

We modeled pressure sources under Mount Ontake volcano, Japan, on the basis of global navigation satellite system (GNSS) observations of ground deformation during the time period including the 2007 and 2014 phreatic eruptions. The total change in volume in two sources below sea level in the period including the 2007 eruption was estimated from GNSS network observations to be 6 × 106 m3. Additionally, data from a GNSS campaign survey yielded an estimated volume change of 0.28 × 106 m3 in a shallower source just beneath the volcanic vents. The 2007 eruption may have been activated by magmatic activity at depth. During the 2014 eruption, the volume change at depth was very small. However, tiltmeter data indicated inflation from a shallow source that began 7 min before the eruption, representing a volume change estimated to be 0.38 × 106 m3. We infer that the potential for subsurface hydrothermal activity may have remained high after the 2007 eruption.