Very-long-period signal reveals lava lake sloshing and its interaction with a deep reservoir in Nyiragongo volcano

Abstract

The longevity of lava lakes in open-vent volcanoes reflects a hydraulic connection between the lake and the deep part of the magma plumbing system. Constraining the size of the shallow magmatic system and resolving the rheology of magma filling in the system is essential to evaluate potential hazards like lava flow and other activities. As the lava lake is often perturbed by degassing bursts, rockfall, and even convection, seismic waves radiated from the oscillation of fluid and its mechanical coupling with the surrounding solid walls provide invaluable information on probing system geometry and magma rheology. In this report, I show the first observation of very long-period signals in Nyiragongo volcano, to uncover the sloshing of the world's largest known lava lake and its dynamic interaction with a deep reservoir during the relatively quiet period. The signal is manifested as the ground oscillations with two isolated spectral peaks at ∼15 s and ∼16 s sustaining up to half an hour and a spectral peak at a longer period of ∼76 s. The radiated seismic energy can be well recognized by the stations with distances of <50 km to the lava lake. The traveling time, particle-motion polarization, and deformation inversion suggest that the 15 s' and 16 s' modes are related to two orthogonal horizontal forces at a very shallow depth, likely pointing to the sloshing dynamics of the lava lake. The 76 s' mode is considered as the dynamic coupling between the lake bottom to a deep reservoir at a depth of 8–16 km through a conduit driven by the sloshing. The dynamic modeling of the 76 s' mode points to a deep reservoir storativity of ∼8 m³/Pa and a spherical reservoir with a radius of ∼7.5 km. High-frequency seismic waves before the onset of the 15 s' and 16 s' modes suggest that the signals may be excited by rigorous degassing or rockfall. Variations in the period and quality factor of the modes reflect the changes in the lake/reservoir geometry and magma rheology. This finding may improve our ability to understand the magmatic plumbing system, track magma evolution in Nyiragongo, and further probe the formation of lava lakes in active volcanoes.