Shallow magmatic storage systems linking to main magma chambers beneath the Central Anatolian Plateau

The Central Anatolian Plateau, featuring its volcanic provinces, is a significant transition zone that marks the abrupt shift from continental collision and compressional deformation in the east to oceanic subduction and extensional dynamics in the west. A comprehensive understanding of physical properties, including seismic attenuation within the crust, can illuminate the potential causes of geodynamic processes and related volcanic activity. Here, we analyse S-wave attenuation and peak delay using data from the Continental Dynamics–Central Anatolian Tectonics (CD-CAT) seismic deployment conducted between 2013 and 2015. Strong attenuation is observed in the Cappadocia volcanic region, indicating active magmatic systems, thermal anomalies, and fluid-rich regions. The anomaly body shows a NE-SW trend consistent with volcanic group distribution, indicating that the regional tectonic stress field controls magmatic activity from east to west. The anomaly body's depth gradually decreases from 12 km to 5 km, possibly revealing the geometry of shallow magmatic storage systems. Peak delay time shows positive anomalies in the volcanic region, indicating highly fractured crustal rocks, whereas negative anomalies in the subduction front region reflect dense ones. The deep magmatic system shows directional characteristics consistent with plate kinematic observations. The unique distribution of anomaly depth gradually decreasing from NE-SW may reveal the existence of shallow magmatic storage systems, with this depth range possibly representing the location of main magma chambers and the vertical extent of magmatic conduits.

This research is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (U2139206, 41974061, 41974054) and the Special Fund of China Seismic Experimental Site (2019CSES0103). The first author has also been financially supported by the China Scholarship Council (202204910302).