Video camera and seismic monitoring of water bulge explosion at Strokkur Geyser, Iceland

Eruptions of volcanoes and geysers share many fundamental similarities: for example, they are manifestations of Earth’s geothermal energy, involving the pressure-driven expulsion of fluids from the Earth’s interior. However, while volcanoes can produce spectacular lava bubbles that burst, water bubbles are rarely observed on the surface of geysers. It is still unclear why some of these low-viscosity geyser systems produce none, while others produce them regularly. There is no quantification of the size, speed, and height of these bubbles at geysers, which is the gap we fill here. Strokkur creates a water bulge in its surface pool (bulge stage). When the bulge bursts, water is ejected into the air (jet stage). The steam then continues to rise buoyantly and drift away (drift stage). Here we study the evolution of the three stages using records from video camera campaigns and a local seismic network. We find that larger bulges are associated with larger ascent velocities and cause larger jet heights. As energy is channeled into a high jet, small seismic ground motions are recorded. The bulge formation itself is barely visible seismically. Our work suggests that the 0.74±0.27 s-long bulge stage can be used as a first-order proxy for predicting eruption height. This study might also be relevant for understanding fluid dynamics in volcanic systems

Sub-surface geology and velocity structure of the Krafla high temperature geothermal field, Iceland : Integrated ditch cuttings, wireline and zero offset vertical seismic profile analysis

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement No. 608553 (Project IMAGE). The VMAPP project run by VBPR, DougalEARTH Ltd. and TGS also contributed funding to the borehole characterization of the K-18 borehole. Landsvirkun is acknowledged for their effort and assistance in this work and in particular for allowing the use of the data from well K-18. We further acknowledge the support from the Research Council of Norway through its Centres of Excellence funding scheme, project 22372 (SP and DAJ).Peer reviewedPostprin

Cyclical geothermal unrest as a precursor to Iceland’s 2021 Fagradalsfjall eruption

Understanding and constraining the source of geodetic deformation in volcanic areas is an important component of hazard assessment. Here, we analyse deformation and seismicity for one year before the March 2021 Fagradalsfjall eruption in Iceland. We generate a high-resolution catalogue of 39,500 earthquakes using optical cable recordings and develop a poroelastic model to describe three pre-eruptional uplift and subsidence cycles at the Svartsengi geothermal field, 8 km west of the eruption site. We find the observed deformation is best explained by cyclic intrusions into a permeable aquifer by a fluid injected at 4 km depth below the geothermal field, with a total volume of 0.11 ± 0.05 km3 and a density of 850 ± 350 kg m–3. We therefore suggest that ingression of magmatic CO2 can explain the geodetic, gravity and seismic data, although some contribution of magma cannot be excluded

Eruption Forecasting of Strokkur Geyser, Iceland, Using Permutation Entropy

A volcanic eruption is usually preceded by seismic precursors, but their interpretation and use for forecasting the eruption onset time remain a challenge. A part of the eruptive processes in open conduits of volcanoes may be similar to those encountered in geysers. Since geysers erupt more often, they are useful sites for testing new forecasting methods. We tested the application of Permutation Entropy (PE) as a robust method to assess the complexity in seismic recordings of the Strokkur geyser, Iceland. Strokkur features several minute‐long eruptive cycles, enabling us to verify in 63 recorded cycles whether PE behaves consistently from one eruption to the next one. We performed synthetic tests to understand the effect of different parameter settings in the PE calculation. Our application to Strokkur shows a distinct, repeating PE pattern consistent with previously identified phases in the eruptive cycle. We find a systematic increase in PE within the last 15 s before the eruption, indicating that an eruption will occur. We quantified the predictive power of PE, showing that PE performs better than seismic signal strength or quiescence when it comes to forecasting eruptions.Plain Language Summary: When a volcano shows the first sign of activity, it is challenging to determine whether and when the actual eruption will occur. Usually, researchers create earthquake lists and locate these events to assess this. However, an alternative and simpler method can be directly applied to continuous seismic data. We tested a method that assesses the complexity of signals. We first created synthetic data to find reasonable parameter settings for this method. While volcanoes do not erupt very often, frequent eruptions at geysers allow us to systematically study and compare several eruptions. We analyzed the continuous record of 63 eruptions of the Strokkur geyser, Iceland. Our results show a distinct pattern that repeats from one eruption to the next one. We also find a clear pattern that indicates about 15 s before the next eruption that an eruption will occur. We show that this method performs better in eruption forecasting than assessing the seismic noise or silence caused by the geyser.Key Points: Permutation Entropy (PE) is a simple tool to assess the complexity of a time series. We analyzed the PE evolution for 63 eruptive cycles of Strokkur geyser and found characteristic changes in PE during recharge. PE is found to be an useful statistical predictor of the eruption times and highlights the precursor 15 s before eruptions.Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001655https://geofon.gfz-potsdam.de/doi/network/7L/2017https://gitup.uni-potsdam.de/pujiastutisudibyo/permutationentrop

Cation-Exchange Capacity Distribution within Hydrothermal Systems and Its Relation to the Alteration Mineralogy and Electrical Resistivity

Cation-exchange capacity (CEC) measurements are widely used to quantify the smectite content in altered rocks. Within this study, we measure the CEC of drill cuttings in four wells from three different high-temperature geothermal areas in Iceland. The CEC measurements in all four wells show similar depth/temperature related pattern, and when comparing the CEC with electrical resistivity logs, we could show that the low resistivity zone coincides with CEC values >5 meq/100 g. The measurements show, in general, an exponential decrease of the CEC with increasing depth. At the facies boundary between the mixed-layer clay and epidote-chlorite zone, the CEC reaches a steady state at about 5 meq/100 g and below that it only decreases slightly within a linear trend with increasing depth. The facies boundary overlaps with the transition where the electrical resistivity logs show an increase in resistivity. It is shown that the measured CEC can be related to the clay mineral alteration within the geothermal system and the CEC reflects the smectite component within the interstratified chlorite/smectite minerals for similar alteration degree. Furthermore, CEC was measured in seven core samples from different alteration zones that had previously been studied in detail with respect to petrophysical and conductivity properties. The results show a clear correlation between CEC and the iso-electrical point, which describes the value of the pore fluid conductivity where transition from surface conductivity to pore fluid conductivity occurs. The presented study shows that the CEC within hydrothermal altered basaltic systems mimics the expandable clay mineral alteration zones and coincides with electrical logs. The presented method can, therefore, be an easy tool to quantify alteration facies within geothermal exploration and drilling projects

Transdimensional ambient-noise surface wave tomography of the Reykjanes Peninsula, SW Iceland

Ambient noise seismic tomography has proven to be an effective tool for subsurface imaging, particularly in volcanic regions such as the Reykjanes Peninsula (RP), SW Iceland, where ambient seismic noise is ideal with isotropic illumination. The primary purpose of this study is to obtain a reliable shear wave velocity model of the RP, to get a better understanding of the subsurface structure of the RP and how it relates to other geoscientific results. This is the first tomographic model of the RP which is based on both on- and off-shore seismic stations. We use the ambient seismic noise data and apply a novel algorithm called one-step 3-D transdimensional tomography. The main geological structures in the study area (i.e. covered by seismic stations) are the four NE-SW trending volcanic systems, orientated highly oblique to the plate spreading on the RP. These are from west to east; Reykjanes, Eldvörp-Svartsengi, Fagradalsfjall and Krýsuvík, of which all except Fagradalsfjall host a known high-temperature geothermal field. Using surface waves retrieved from ambient noise recordings, we recovered a 3-D model of shear wave velocity. We observe low-velocity anomalies below these known high-temperature fields. The observed low-velocity anomalies below Reykjanes and Eldvörp-Svartsengi are significant but relatively small. The low-velocity anomaly observed below Krýsuvík is both larger and stronger, oriented near-perpendicular to the volcanic system, and coinciding well with a previously found low-resistivity anomaly. A low-velocity anomaly in the depth range of 5-8 km extends horizontally along the whole RP, but below the high-temperature fields, the onset of the velocity decrease is shallower, at around 3 km depth. This is in good agreement with the brittle-ductile transition zone on the RP. In considerably greater detail, our results confirm previous tomographic models obtained in the area. This study demonstrates the potential of the entirely data-driven, one-step 3-D transdimensional ambient noise tomography as a routine tomography tool and a complementary seismological tool for geothermal exploration, providing an enhanced understanding of the upper crustal structure of the RP.Applied Geophysics and Petrophysic

Imaging the high-temperature geothermal field at Krafla using vertical seismic profiling

ISSN:0377-027

Seismicity and 3-D body-wave velocity models across the Hengill geothermal area, SW Iceland

We image shallow crustal structures and analyze seismicity patterns in the Hengill high-enthalpy geothermal area in SW Iceland, exploiting a temporary densification of the seismic network 2018 to 2020. Using a subset of 6,300 high-quality manually picked P- and S-phases, we compute a minimum 1-D model for the region. Our results suggest that the most consistent and accurate hypocenter locations are derived from a joint inversion of P and S arrival times for the Hengill area. We demonstrate that this minimum 1-D model in combination with SeisComP detection and location algorithms can be used to produce fully-automated yet high-quality earthquake catalogs. Our analysis established that both the induced and natural seismicity in the Hengill area occurs in several distinct, spatially constrained clusters. In production and injection areas, the depth of the clusters is at about 2 km, near the bottom of the production and injection wells. These are most likely triggered by the injection and induced by the production, respectively. Outside of these clusters, the seismicity is generally deeper, with the depth of the deepest seismicity indicating the brittle-ductile transition zone. This zone is encountered at about 4 km near the center of the Hengill volcanic area and deepens with increasing distance from its volcanic center, to about 7 km in the southernmost region. A spatial analysis of b-values shows slightly increased values in areas with numerous injection wells and slightly decreased values in production areas. Three-dimensional crustal imaging of VP, VS, VP/VS shows a SE-NW trending fast velocity that extends, at 1–3 km depth between the extinct Grensdalur volcanic center and the presently active Hengill volcanic center. The fastest velocities are found in the NW corner of the Grensdalur volcanic center coinciding with a gravity high and probably reflecting dense solidified magmatic intrusion(s). This trend coincides with traces of geothermal surface manifestations, a shallow lying low resistivity anomaly and an aero-magnetic low. All these anomalies are caused by high temperature at some point in the geological history of the area and are most likely due to migration of the crustal accretion and volcanic activity between the two volcanic centers. Below-average VP/VS ratios at similar depth, coincide with the main production field. We suggest that this anomaly is caused by the extensive fluid extraction, which lowers the pore-pressure in the field and consequently increases the steam dominated zone, leading to lower Vp/Vs ratios. Most of the earthquakes are within the Vp/Vs low and at the boundary of the high and low Vp/Vs anomalies, which might indicate a region of good permeability.ISSN:2296-646

Time-lapse seismic imaging of the Reykjanes geothermal reservoir

We report on the results obtained from a dense seismic deployment over a geothermal reservoir located on the tip of the Reykjanes peninsula, SW Iceland. The available seismic stations have continuously recorded the ambient-seismic wave field between April 2014 and August 2015. Using seismic interferometry (SI), seismic responses were generated between these receivers. SI allows one to turn one receiver of a receiver pair into a so-called ‘virtual source’, whose response is then retrieved by the other receiver. The retrieved virtual-source response approximates the medium’s Green’s function between the two receiver locations. For the ambientseismic recordings used in this study, virtual-source retrieval involves simple time-averaging of the crosscorrelations between these recordings. The virtual-source responses were retrieved in a time-lapse manner. The temporal variation of the ‘coda’ of these virtual-source responses has been evaluated, where the term coda refers to the later arriving, multiply scattered waves. The multiple scattering implies that these waves have sampled the subsurface very densely and hence have become highly sensitive to tiny mechanical and structural changes in that subsurface. We did not find a clear relation between the temporal variation of the coda waves and the injection/ extraction rates of the geothermal reservoir.Applied Geophysics and Petrophysic