Renewed inflation of Long Valley Caldera, California (2011 to 2014)

Abstract

Slow inflation began at Long Valley Caldera in late 2011, coinciding with renewed swarm seismicity. Ongoing deformation is concentrated within the caldera. We analyze this deformation using a combination of GPS and InSAR (TerraSAR-X) data processed with a persistent scatterer technique. The extension rate of the dome-crossing baseline during this episode (CA99 to KRAC) is 1cm/yr, similar to past inflation episodes (1990-1995 and 2002-2003), and about a tenth of the peak rate observed during the 1997 unrest. The current deformation is well modeled by the inflation of a prolate spheroidal magma reservoir â7km beneath the resurgent dome, with a volume change of â6×106m3/yr from 2011.7 through the end of 2014. The current data cannot resolve a second source, which was required to model the 1997 episode. This source appears to be in the same region as previous inflation episodes, suggesting a persistent reservoir. Key Points Uplift at Long Valley began in late 2011 Well modeled by inflation of â7km deep prolate ellipsoid Source colocated with previous sources, suggesting persistent reservoir.