Mass Addition at Mount St. Helens, Washington, Inferred From Repeated Gravity Surveys

Abstract

Relative gravity measurements were made at 12 sites on Mount St. Helens and 4 sites far afield during the summers of 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2016. Positive residual gravity changes of 0.05–0.06 ± 0.01 mGal from 2010 to 2016—a sign of mass addition—remain at proximal sites after accounting for the effects of changes in Crater Glacier shape and mass. Modeling of the 2010–2016 monitoring data indicates mass addition in the volcano magma reservoir, the volcano conduit, and/or the shallow hydrothermal aquifer. Magma intrusion in the volcano's known reservoir is suggested by the joint inversion of GPS and gravity data (d = 5800 ± 710 m below sea level, ΔVm = 49.8 ± 8.6 × 106m3, ρ = 1930 ± 300 kg/m3); the modeled depth and location are consistent with that of the reservoir that fed the 2004–2008 eruption, and its mass change can explain up to 19% of the residual gravity. The other two potential sources—the conduit and shallow aquifer—are not well constrained. Magma addition along the volcano conduit can explain up to 62% of the residual gravity (ΔVm ≅ 31 × 106m3, ρm ≅ 2, 300 kg/m3). However, such an intrusion should have produced a measurable surface deformation, which is not observed in the GPS time series. Changes in the level of the volcano's shallow hydrothermal system (ρw = 1, 000 kg/m3) can explain 17% (ΔVrecharge ≅ 9 × 106m3) to 61% (ΔVrecharge ≅ 30 × 106m3) of the residual gravity. It would therefore seem that the bulk of the mass change measured at Mount St. Helens during 2010–2016 was caused by shallow accumulation of water beneath the floor of the crater.