EGU21-14952
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-14952
EGU General Assembly 2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Explaining the continuing inflation of Montserrat

Jurgen Neuberg1 and Benoit Taisne2
Jurgen Neuberg and Benoit Taisne
  • 1University of Leeds, Institute of Geophysics & Tectonics, School of Earth & Environment, Leeds, United Kingdom (j.neuberg@see.leeds.ac.uk)
  • 2Earth Observatory of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Soufrière Hills volcano on Montserrat in the West Indies showed five episodes of magma extrusion and as many pauses in its 25 years of volcanic activity. This eruptive behaviour exhibited cyclic deformation pattern where extrusive “phases” showed island-wide deflation and all “pauses” have been linked to inflation, the last of which remains ongoing. Several models have been developed over the years; all based on magma intrusion and extrusion, into, or from one or several reservoirs, respectively. Addressing the entire eruptive history, we explore in this presentation several alternative models ranging from the continuous magma influx at depth to the extreme case where intrusion of fresh magma has ceased years ago, while the inflation is continuing. Both, purely elastic and visco-elastic rheologies are explored.

How to cite: Neuberg, J. and Taisne, B.: Explaining the continuing inflation of Montserrat, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-14952, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-14952, 2021.

Corresponding displays formerly uploaded have been withdrawn.