Using Ambient Noise to Track Magma Migration

Using ambient noise from waves and wind, scientists have found a novel way to understand how magma flows underground in relation to a caldera.

IMAGE: For the first time ever, researchers used seismic noise to observe the movement of volcanic material at depth. CREDIT: Elisabetta Cipolla

Back here on Earth, we’re once again held captive and fascinated by the power and awesomeness of volcanoes. I don’t think we can overstate the love that our team has for these powerful structures, no matter the type: cinder cones like in La Palma and Iceland, shield volcanoes like Kīlauea, or stratovolcanoes like those in the Andes and Japan. And we even love a type of volcano that seems a bit misunderstood, in my opinion — the caldera. Of course, most of us are familiar with the huge caldera under Yellowstone, but that’s one of many here on Earth.

New research published in Nature Communications and led by Dr. Simona Petrosino has found a novel way to understand just how liquids, in this case magma, flow underground when it comes to caldera. Specifically, the team used ambient noise from the sea and the wind to map processes deep beneath the earth in a region known as the Phlegraen Fields, or Campi Felgrei, in Italy.

Dr. Petrosino explains: Sea and wind constantly interact with the caldera and produce waves that scan its depths. Ambient noise waves enter the caldera with their…