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Stress fields around magma chambers influenced by elastic thermo-mechanical deformation: implications for forecasting chamber failure

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Abstract

Defining the conditions that lead to the rupture of a magma chamber is essential to forecast eruptions. So far, models simulating magma chamber dynamics have neglected the effects of elastic thermal expansion in the host rocks surrounding a new injection of magma, focusing instead primarily on elastic-plastic deformation and more recently, on visco-elastic deformation. Here we fill this gap by building a suite of elastic thermo-mechanical models to determine the stress field around a variably heated crustal magma chamber. We first consider linear elastic mechanical models with only the effect of magma pressure. We then present purely thermal models simulating heat distribution around a heated chamber. Finally, we present coupled linear elastic thermo-mechanical models that highlight the influence of temperature on the distribution of crustal stresses. Results show that thermal expansion–induced stresses generate two competing consequences: (1) they increase the level of shear stress around the magma chamber and (2) they partially suppress the level of tensile stress generated by the magmatic pressure. These competing effects influence the short-timescale conditions required for the failure of immature magmatic systems and hence the nucleation of dikes which may ultimately feed eruptions during unrest. Therefore, soon after a new magmatic recharge event, the contribution of temperature increase in the host rocks, following the new influx of magma into a crustal magma chamber, should be considered.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Editor Joel Ruch, and the reviewers Adelina Geyer and Pietro Tizzani, for insightful comments which helped improve the manuscript.

Funding

This study was supported by funds from Eskisehir Osmangazi Univeristy Numbers: 201715031 and 201715A215). OK was supported by The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Programme). JB acknowledges support from Fondecyt award 11190143 and Fondap-Conicyt 15090013. Supporting data are included in an SI file; and may be obtained from JB (email: jbrowning@ing.puc.cl) and from https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3601379

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mining Engineering and Department of Structural and Geotechnical Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile

    J. Browning

  2. Centro de Excelencia en Geotermia de los Andes (CEGA), Santiago, Chile

    J. Browning

  3. Department of Geological Engineering, Eskişehir Osmangazi University, 26040, Eskişehir, Turkey

    Ö. Karaoğlu

  4. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Middle East Technical University, Çankaya, 06800, Ankara, Turkey

    Ö. Bayer & M. B. Turgay

  5. Dipartimento di Scienze, Università Roma Tre, Rome, Italy

    V. Acocella

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  1. J. Browning
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  2. Ö. Karaoğlu
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  4. M. B. Turgay
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  5. V. Acocella
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to J. Browning.

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Editorial responsibility: J. Ruch

Main points

• Comparison of crustal stresses induced from mechanical and thermomechanical loading around a magma chamber

• Thermal expansion acts to increase the level of shear stress but suppresses the level of tensile stress around pressurized magma chambers

• Elastic deformation resulting from thermal expansion of rocks surrounding magma chambers should be considered in failure forecasting models

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Browning, J., Karaoğlu, Ö., Bayer, Ö. et al. Stress fields around magma chambers influenced by elastic thermo-mechanical deformation: implications for forecasting chamber failure. Bull Volcanol 83, 48 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-021-01471-2

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