NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Surface deformation and seismicity provide critical information to understand the dynamics of volcanic unrest. During 2006–2007, >80 mm/yr uplift was observed by interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) at the central Atka volcanic center, Alaska, coinciding with an increasing seismicity rate. On November 25, 2006, a phreatic eruption occurred at the Korovin volcanic vent, 5-km north of the central Atka, following the drainage of its crater lake a month prior to the eruption. The InSAR data are assimilated into three-dimensional finite element models using the Ensemble Kalman Filter to investigate: (1) the pressure source creating the surface deformation; (2) the triggering of the volcano-tectonic (VT) earthquakes in the Atka volcanic center; and (3) the triggering of the phreatic eruption at Korovin. The models show that the pressure source required to create the surface deformation is a NE-tilted, oblate ellipsoid, which rotated from steep to gentle dipping from June to November 2006 before the eruption. The modeled dilatancy in a pre-existing weak zone, coinciding with the AmliaAmukta fault, driven by the pressure source has a spatial and temporal correlation with the evolution of the VT earthquakes during the unrest. The fault dilatancy may have increased the connected porosity addition, the dilatated fault may have increased the fluid capacity of the fault zone by ∼105 m3, causing and permeability of the fault zone allowing fluid injection which triggered the observed seismicity. In the discharge of the crater lake at Korovin. Consequently, the phreatic eruption of the Korovin volcano may have been triggered.