Clarifying the Distribution of Magmatic Fluids Within the Yellowstone Volcanic System: A Magnetotelluric and Seismic Study

Date: 4/24/2019

Time: 10:45 AM

Room: Grand Crescent

Many geophysical studies of the Yellowstone volcanic system have been carried out in order to assess the volcanic hazard that the region may represent. Such studies aim to address questions concerning the origin and location of magmatic fluids at lower crustal depths; how magmatic fluids migrate through and are stored within the crust; and the composition of stored magma. To this end, we are currently engaged in a multi-disciplinary, magntotelluric (MT) and seismic, study of the Yellowstone volcanic system. In summer 2017, we collected densely spaced wideband MT data throughout the Yellowstone area. As part of the EarthScope Magnetotelluric Transportable Array, widely space long period MT data were previously collected throughout the region. We use these wideband and long period MT data to invert for the 3D resistivity structure of the Yellowstone volcanic system from upper crustal through upper mantle depths. Concurrently, we are carrying out a seismic velocity study of the region where the P- and S-wave crustal velocity structure are solved for via joint inversion of surface and body-wave data. Since the inverted resistivity and seismic velocity models have spatially coincident model spaces, we can interpret the region in a joint geophysical parameter space. MT and seismic data are sensitive to different properties of the subsurface. Thus, interpretation of spatially coincident electrical resistivity and seismic velocity models allows us to more robustly constrain the structure and composition of the Yellowstone volcanic system in order to better understand the volcanic hazard it represents.

Presenting Author: Ninfa L. Bennington

Authors