Subdivision of seismicity beneath the summit region of Kilauea volcano:
Implication for the preparation process of the 2018 eruption
Abstract
Long-period (LP), hybrid and volcano-tectonic (VT) seismicity are
important indicators for tracking the evolution of volcanic processes.
However, classification of a large number of these events remains a
challenging task. Here, we propose an unsupervised-learning
classification method and apply it to 5,949 seismic events in Kilauea
volcano, Hawai’i, during a 4-month period before the collapse of Pu’u’
O’o on 30 April, 2018. We successfully separate the LPs, VTs and hybrids
and show three episodes of LPs and hybrids. The last episode in 9-27
April before the collapse event shows unusually high rate and more
shallow origins, coincident with the rapid changes of near-caldera
deformation and lava lake elevation in Halema’uma’u. The hybrids are
found to be closely associated with LPs and magma movement but mixed
with shear-failure or near-surface resonance. Our method can be used to
construct catalogs of diverse seismicity and contribute to volcano
monitoring and eruption forecasting.