Publication Date:
2021-05-12
Description:
A fraction of the volcanic activity occurs intraplate, challenging our models of melting and magma transfer to the Earth's surface. A prominent example is Mt. Etna, eastern Sicily, offset from the asthenospheric tear below the Malta Escarpment proposed as its melt source. The nearby Hyblean volcanism, to the south, and the overall northward migration of the eastern Sicilian volcanism are also unexplained. Here we simulate crustal magma pathways beneath eastern Sicily, accounting for regional stresses and decompression due to the increase in the depth of the Malta Escarpment. We find non-vertical magma pathways, with the competition of tectonic and loading stresses controlling the trajectories' curvature and its change in time, causing the observed migration of volcanism. This suggests that the Hyblean and Etnean volcanism have been fed laterally from a melt pooling region below the Malta Escarpment. The case of eastern Sicily shows how the reconstruction of the evolution of magmatic provinces may require not only an assessment of the paleostresses, but also of the contribution of surface loads and their variations; at times, the latter may even prevail. Accounting for these competing stresses may help shed light on the distribution and wandering of intraplate volcanism
Description:
Published
Description:
15-22
Description:
1V. Storia eruttiva
Description:
2V. Struttura e sistema di alimentazione dei vulcani
Description:
JCR Journal
Keywords:
intraplate volcanism
;
fault scarp
;
dike propagation
;
Malta Escarpment
;
Hyblean volcanism
;
Etna
;
Mechanical models of magma transfer are used to backtrack the surface volcanism in Eastern Sicily.
;
Our models account for regional stresses and decompression due to the deepening of the Malta Escarpment
;
Both the Hyblean and Etnean volcanism has been laterally fed by a melt pooling region below the Malta Escarpment
;
The Malta Escarpment played an active role in steering the shifting of Etnean and Hyblean volcanism
Repository Name:
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
Type:
article
Permalink
