PhD Title: Tracking Melt Injection in Iceland with Earthquakes 

The focus of my research is lower-crustal earthquakes beneath Askja volcano in central Iceland. These earthquakes were first detected during the summer of 2006 when 20 seismometers were deployed in a temporary local network around Askja with the aim of recording the upper-crustal events (2 - 7 km depth) that had long been known to occur in the area.

Unexepectedly, in addition to the ~2000 upper-crustal events, ~100 lower-crustal earthquakes in the depth range 13 - 27 km were also detected, with the majority located at the northern boundary of the Askja caldera. These earthquakes occur in the lower part of the newly created, thick, hot crust, well beneath the brittle-ductile boundary, where you would not normally expect earthquakes to occur. Subsequent deployments during summers of 2007 and 2008 and a smaller trial network through winter 07/08 have revealed more of these events, with more than 450 now located.It is thought that these earthquakes are generated by melt migration in the lower crust, with high strain rates at the tips of propagating dykes suggested as one possible mechanism for their generation.

The main aims of my research are to accurately locate these events through waveform relocation and to develop a hypothesis for exactly how and why these events are occuring.


Publications: 2006-Present

Last updated on 22-Jun-10 11:49