Abstract
Dikes are the primary mechanisms to transport magma and feed eruptions. Investigations of the surface deformation and seismicity caused by a dike can potentially provide useful information to forecast the expected propagation and associated hazard. On December 24, 2018, a dike intrusion reached the summit of Mt. Etna, feeding an effusive fissure. The intrusion was accompanied by a seismic swarm, with hypocenters beneath the summit craters and eruptive fissure, and by ground deformation. The seismicity continued the following day, with the hypocenters deepening to 3 km b.s.l. due to the propagation of a deeper and thicker dike. This situation generated the fear of feeding a more dangerous eruption in the medium-low flank. Recently it was found an equation that relates the average thickness and dimension of the dike with the expected released mechanical energy and, therefore, to the seismic moment. By using this updated application, it is shown that the observed seismicity could not be accounted for by the first dike. Instead, the cumulative effect of both dikes indicates a total moment from available energy expected that balances the moment recorded by the seismicity. The proposed approach proved very useful in the specific case of Etna volcano eruptions, resulting an effective tool to monitor the state of the intrusion of the magma and, therefore, to predict if a dike has enough energy to continue propagating or to stop.
Introduction
Dike propagation is a main process for magma transport and eruptions. Several studies have investigated this mechanism involving different approaches such as solid mechanics, field mapping and analogue lab experiments. Review presentations on dike investigations are reported in , , Rubin (1995), and Rivalta et al. (2015). A critical and intriguing aspect is dike arrest. In fact, in most cases propagating dikes can stop before reaching the free surface (e.g., ; ). Dike stopping may occur for different reasons: driving pressure decreasing (e.g., ; Taisne et al., 2011), magma solidification (e.g., ), structural barrier (e.g., ; ) and stress perturbation (Maccaferri et al., 2015; Xu et al., 2016). Despite the complexity of the issue, the goal of having a tool to track the propagation state of the dike is fundamental at frequently erupting volcanoes whose flanks are densely populated, such as at Mt. Etna. investigated the relationship between measured dike-induced deformation and the seismicity released during its propagation. The authors devised a simple equation related to the dike’s average thickness that can be used as a proxy of the expected mechanical energy to be released during its propagation. They also obtained an empirical law that quantifies the expected seismic energy released before arrest. The authors found a general law from data of different volcanoes around the world where dikes were modeled and seismicity recorded (Afar region, Japanese volcanoes, Etna volcano). However, if robust data for single volcanoes areas are available, then the goodness of the equation improves and it is better to use the representative equation of the specific investigated volcano.
So far, the equation fitted the recent dikes feeding the flank eruptions of the last 2 decades very well (2001, 2002-two dikes, 2008), suggesting it is a valid tool to determine the total seismic moment to be released by an intrusion, and thus potentially able to follow the energy status during the dike propagation and the timing of its possible arrest.
On December 24, 2018, in the early morning, a fast dike crossed Mt. Etna volcano and reached the surface at 11:10. It produced an eruptive fissure in the summit area and began emitting a lava flow in the high eastern flank (). From 8:30 to 11:10, the dike intrusion was accompanied by a seismic swarm located beneath the shallow (0–2 km a.s.l.) central portion of the volcano (; ) (Figure 1). One interesting aspect was that the seismic swarm continued even during the following 24 h, decreasing in the afternoon-evening of December 25th. This seismicity was localized in a more decentralized portion toward the SE of the volcano. This behavior raised great concern about the possibility that another intrusion with greater lateral extension was acting inside the volcanic building. This dike could have been a significant hazard if it reached the surface, resulting in more eruptive activity. In fact, the more an intrusion extends laterally, the greater the risk that the eruptive fissure and lava flows may approach small towns and villages. Similarly to the 2002 eruption, the intrusive process triggered an acceleration of the eastward sliding of the unstable eastern sector of the volcano (). Following the eruptive period, this marked sliding was also accommodated by fault slip that on 26 December culminated with the ML 4.8 earthquake along the Fiandaca fault in the low Eastern flank (; ).
Figure 1
However, the effusive activity of the eruption lasted only a few days and emitted a modest lava volume of ca. ∼3 × 106 m3. Therefore, the critical aspect regarding the second major intrusion that did not feed any eruption, and whether this behavior could have been better tracked, remained unclear.
Recently,
In this study, in “Estimation of Dike Energy from Inferred Dike Shape” section we present the approach from
Estimation of Dike Energy from Inferred Dike Shape
Following the linear elastic theory, in which the thickness t to length l ratio of a dike is related to the driving pressure Pd able to open the dike walls (i.e.,
Equation 1 was used both on a world mean scale (Etna, Japan volcanoes and Afar eruptions) and on a single volcano (Etna) to obtain the relation linking the energy of the dikes modeled from the deformation measurements and the seismic energy release during the dike propagation. On Etna volcano, the modeled dike shapes and the seismic recordings are very robust for the recent eruptions thanks to an integrated monitoring system of ground deformation (static and continuous GPS measurements and continuous borehole tilt) and the dense seismic network around the volcano.
The purpose of this result is to obtain a tool for tracking the energy released by the intrusion to evaluate its propagation. The logical chain of the proposed process essentially followed four steps:
The dike model parameters are obtained from the deformation measurements. This is possible since the size and shape of the dike can be modeled from the deformations recorded by the permanent monitoring system, in principle also from the first initial phases of the dike propagation.
From the dike model we can estimate the energy to be released, since from Eq. 1 this can be calculated from the dimension of the dike, mainly in terms of its thickness.
Defining the relationship between energy associated with the dike and energy released by earthquakes. From the numerous recent eruptions already studied and modeled, this energy estimated from the model obtained can, in turn, be related to the seismic energy released by the earthquakes induced by the propagation of the eruptive intrusion. A relation of type log10 (Mo) = a log10 (UT) + b is used, where a and b are the coefficients to fix by the fit of Mo and UT data.
Tracking the evolution of the process. Finally, we can estimate the expected energy, namely the one that the eruptive fissure (dike) should release during its propagation. We can also monitor the discharge of energy over time, and observe when it is approaching the expected value to be released. . This allows us to evaluate the state of the intrusion of the magma, and if this would continue to propagate (its cumulated energy is below the expected energy level) or if it is about to stop (the expected energy level is reached).
As a real case application,
The Multiple Intrusions of the Etna Dec 2018 Eruption
The December 24, 2018 flank eruption at Mt. Etna began in the early morning with intense degassing from the summit craters. It was accompanied by both a seismic sequence, starting at 08:30, and a fast increase in the volcanic tremor amplitude (
To study the process of the December 2018 intrusive episode, we used precise 3D hypocenters of the earthquakes recorded from the beginning of the dike intrusion (08:30, December 24 until 16:00, December 25 (
The earthquake locations during the first 30 h (December 24–25; Figures 1and2). from 8:30 to 11:10 indicated an initial cluster of events with epicenters aligned in a N-S direction, located between −1 km b.s.l. and 2 km a.s.l., beneath the summit craters and along the eruptive vent (red circles in Figures 1and2). Then, the seismicity moved southeastwards and, starting from 16:30, it migrated toward the western wall of VdB with a deepening of the hypocenters up to −3 km b.s.l. (yellow circles in Figures 1and2). The seismicity occurring from 20:00 on December 24 until the afternoon (16:00) of December 25 affected a wider and deeper volume with respect to the main earthquake clusters (
Figure 2

Depth vs. latitude (A) and longitude (B) distribution of the earthquakes occurring from 08:30 to 11:10 on December 24 (red circles) and from 11:11 to 16:00 on December 25 (yellow circles). The positions of the two dikes inferred by
During the initial phase of the eruption, the INGV provided a first estimation of the dike model in order to quickly assist the Italian Civil Protection Authorities in monitoring the on-going phenomenon. By using the real time GPS solutions exclusively, a shallow near-vertical dike was inferred, located between the sea level and the summit eruptive fissure, with a horizontal length of 2 km, vertical width of 1 km and an opening of 3 m (
A turning point for a more complete understanding of the intrusive process was recently provided by
Figure 3

3D sketch map showing the two dikes inferred by
Updated Relationship Between Energy Expected from Dike Shape vs Measured Seismic Energy
In quantifying the released energy during dike propagation, the seismic moment of the earthquakes accompanying and tracking the migratory path of the intruding magma can be considered not only the seismic energy which is radiated seismically but also a measure of the total energy released during the intrusion process (
Supplementary Table S3 shows an updated scheme, also containing the dikes of the 2018 eruption, which summarizes the parameters of the eruptive dikes modeled from ground deformation and the associated recorded total seismic moment Mo released during their propagations. From the values reported in Supplementary Table S3, we estimated the updated relationship between the energy expected from dike shape/dimensions modeled from ground deformation measurements and the seismic energy measured from the cumulative seismic moment of the earthquakes recorded during the dike propagation. We obtained:confirming the same previous coefficients found in
Figure 4

(A) Total seismic moment Mo (J) calculated from the seismicity recorded during the dike propagation vs. total 3-D available mechanical elastic strain energy UT (J) estimated from Eq. 4 for the modeled dikes of Etna’s eruptions (see Supplementary Table S3). The rhombuses are for the dike I, dike II and dikes (I + II), respectively, of 24–25 December 2018, while the circles are for the dikes of the 2001, 2002 (two dikes) and 2008 eruptions (see Supplementary Table S2). (B) Application example of the 24–25 December 2018 double dike intrusion of Etna. log10(Mo) vs. time. From the initial phases of the dike, after its opening is inferred, the available energy can be estimated from Eq. 2 and the expected total seismic moment to be released (dashed line) from Eq. 3. This Mo value is the limit to be reached by the cumulative recorded seismic moment to obtain the energy equilibrium and the dike stopping.
After UT is estimated from the dike parameters, Eq. 3 allows determining the seismic moment expected by the release of the dike’s available energy that can be compared with the recorded seismic moment, hence providing a tool to evaluate when the energy is balancing. In the case of the December 2018 eruption, the method highlights that the first eruptive dike, promptly modeled on the morning of December 24, did not release enough energy to balance the recorded seismic moment that continued to accumulate in the following hours (Figure 4B). Therefore, the proposed approach clearly suggests that another seismic source was active after the eruption started. From continuous deformation data,
Discussion and Conclusion
The eruption of Christmas 2018 was a peculiar event for two main aspects: i) in spite of a powerful intrusion, the ensuing effusive activity lasted only about 3 days, stopping on the morning of December 27; ii) it was accompanied by a seismic swarm that did not stop after the start of the eruption (morning of 24 December) but continued until the afternoon of the following day.
The first dike, the eruptive one crossing the surface portion of the volcanic building and reaching the surface to feed the eruption, produced a clear deformation pattern on a scale of the entire volcano, more marked in the summit area and with a strong amplitude decay toward the external flanks, this due to the shallow position of this dike. The continuation of seismicity was associated with the propagation of a second deeper dike, which was unable to reach the surface but stopped 1.5 km below the crater area. This second dike instead caused a wide deformation detected more clearly in the southern flank portion above its projection. This dike stopped below the ground surface and did not cross the final portion of the volcano pile where the main deformation was produced. It was characterized by relatively small width (about 600 m) compared to the shallow dike (about 2,700 m) (see Figure 3; Supplementary Table S1). If the deeper dike had been >1.5–2 km wider, it would have caused marked deformation on the scale of the entire volcano edifice (
Fortunately, the scenario of a flank eruption in the lower flank did not take place probably because the first intrusion and the resulting eruption released most of the energy, as testified by the decreasing seismicity rate (
In this work, we have updated the equation obtained by
Clearly, the more robust the data for a single volcano, the better the quality of the relationship. As shown in the application case reported in
Statements
Data availability statement
The data are available in Supplementary Materials. The localizations and magnitudes of the recorded earthquakes are reported in Table S1, the parameters of the modeled dikes from previous published studies are reported in Tables S2 and S3.
Author contributions
AB conceived this work and traced its scheme. EG prepared and revised seismic data. Both the authors contributed in writing the manuscript and shared the discussion of the results.
Acknowledgments
We kindly acknowledge the INGV-OE seismic network staff who ensure the regular working of seismic stations and the “Gruppo Analisi Dati Sismici” for providing earthquake data. AB is particularly indebted to the technical staff of the Ground Deformation Group of INGV-OE for the regular operation of the tilt and GPS monitoring networks, which enabled the previous studies over the last 3 decades. We thank S. Conway for revising the English language of the manuscript.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Supplementary material
The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2020.583815/full#supplementary-material
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Summary
Keywords
Etna volcano, dike intrusion, eruption monitoring, volcano seismicity, volcano deformation, energy balance
Citation
Bonaccorso A and Giampiccolo E (2020) Balance Between Deformation and Seismic Energy Release: The Dec 2018 ‘Double-Dike’ Intrusion at Mt. Etna. Front. Earth Sci. 8:583815. doi: 10.3389/feart.2020.583815
Received
15 July 2020
Accepted
22 September 2020
Published
09 October 2020
Volume
8 - 2020
Edited by
Cecile Doubre, Université de Strasbourg, France
Reviewed by
Eisuke Fujita, National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience (NIED), Japan
Finnigan Illsley-Kemp, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
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© 2020 Bonaccorso and Giampiccolo.
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*Correspondence: Alessandro Bonaccorso, alessandro.bonaccorso@ingv.it
This article was submitted to Volcanology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Earth Science
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