Upper crustal shear wave velocity and radial anisotropy beneath Jeju Island volcanoes from ambient noise tomography

Abstract

Jeju Island offshore of the southern Korean Peninsula is an isolated intraplate volcano formed by multiple basaltic eruptions from the Pleistocene (similar to 1.8 Ma) to the Holocene (similar to 3.7 ka). Due to the lack of available seismic data, magma structures at upper crustal depths of the island have not been clearly revealed. In this study, we imaged upper crustal isotropic and radial anisotropic structures beneath the island using ambient noise data from a temporary seismic network. A series of transdimensional hierarchical Bayesian inversions were performed to construct upper crustal (1-10 km) isotropic and anisotropic structures. Surface wave (Rayleigh and Love wave) group and phase velocity dispersion data were jointly inverted for 2 -15 s. The results show that layers of negative anisotropy (V-SH < V-SV) are predominant at shallower (<2 km) and deeper (>5 km) depths, which was interpreted as reflecting dyke swarms responsible for the more than 400 cinder cones at the surface and the vertical plumbing systems supplying magma from deeper sources, respectively. Additionally, a layer with significantly positive radial anisotropy (V-SH > V-SV, up to 5 per cent) was found at middle depths (2-5 km), and was interpreted as horizontally aligned magma plumbing systems (e.g. sills) through comparisons with several other volcanoes worldwide. In comparison with the isotropic structure, the positive anisotropic layer was separated into upper and lower layers with locally neutral to slightly fast and slower shear wave velocities, respectively, beneath the largest central crater (Mt Halla). Such a structure indicates that the cooled upper part of the magma plumbing systems formed within the horizontally developed sill complex, and is underlain by still-warm sill structures, potentially with a small fraction of melting. With dykes predominant above and below, the island-wide sill layer and locally high-temperature body at the centre explain the evolution of the Jeju Island volcanoes by island-forming surface lava flows and central volcanic eruptions before and alter the eruptions of cinder cones.