Seismicity associated with active, new-born, and re-awakening basaltic volcanoes: case review and the possible scenarios
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Seismicity associated with active, new-born, and re-awakening basaltic volcanoes: case review and the possible scenarios for the Harraat volcanic provinces, Saudi Arabia Vyacheslav M. Zobin & Abdullah M. Al-Amri & Mohammed Fnais
Received: 6 June 2011 / Accepted: 8 August 2011 / Published online: 20 August 2011 # Saudi Society for Geosciences 2011
Abstract During April–June 2009, a swarm of more than 30,000 earthquakes struck the Harrat Lunayyir, situated in the north-western end of the Saudi Arabian Harraat, east of the Red Sea. This sharp increase in the seismic activity in the region of ancient basaltic volcanic centers indicated a likelihood of a future eruption. To check the situation, a short review of the best-documented seismic activity associated with active, new-born, and re-awakening basaltic volcanoes is presented in this article. Basing on the review, some regularity in the development of seismic activity associated with basaltic eruptions was formulated. Three stages in the development of seismic activity were identified: preliminary, preceding, and continuous. The duration of preceding stage varies from a few hours for active and re-awakened volcanoes to some weeks for newborn volcanoes and may serve as a criterion for discriminations of different types of basaltic eruptions. The duration of the seismic activity during the 2009 episode at Harrat Lunayyir was longer than any activity preceding the basaltic eruptions of different types. Therefore, the most probable scenario is the arrest of sub-surface intrusion without any eruption in the region of Harrat Lunayyir. The next probable scenario would be the dike injections along the rift zones. The re-awakening of the old Harrat Lunayyir volcano or the birth of a new volcano at Harrat Lunayyir is less probable.
V. M. Zobin (*) Observatorio Vulcanológico de la Universidad de Colima, Colima, México e-mail: [email protected] A. M. Al-Amri : M. Fnais Department of Geology, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Keywords Basaltic volcano . Earthquake swarm . Harrat Lunayyir . Re-awakening volcano . New-born volcano . Saudi Arabia . Volcanic earthquakes
Introduction Basaltic lava fields (Harraat) of Arabian Peninsula are characterized by high eruptive potential. Harrigan (2006) reported that during the last 4,500 years, 13 large eruptions occurred within these lava fields. Global Volcanism Program of Smithsonian Institution (GVP 2011) listed six historical eruptions in Arabian Peninsula, three of them in Yemen and three in Saudi Arabia. The most recent eruption of Harras of Dhamar volcano in the north of Yemen occurred in 1937. In the territory of Saudi Arabia, the last eruption, throwing up six cinders cones along a massive fissure south-east of Madinah (Harrat Rahat, Fig. 1), was recorded in the beginning of June 1256. The 0.5 km3 lava flows reached 23 km distance. The eruption was preceded by earthquake swarm; the strongest of earthquakes were felt in Madinah during a few days before the eruption. The eruption began when the seismic event
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