GEOPHYSICAL

RESEARCH
LETI•BRS,
VOL. 12,NUMBER24,PAGES2381-2384,
DECEMBER
24, 1992
Publisher's Note: the correct volume is 19

THINLOW-VELOCITY
ZONEWITHINTHEKRAFLACALDERA,
NE-ICELAND
ATTRIBUTED TO A SMAI,_LMAGMA CHAMBER

BryndfsBrandsd6ttir
Science
Institute,
University
of Iceland,

William H. Menke
Lamont-Doherty
Geological
Observatory
andDepartment
ofGeological
Sciences
ofColumbia
University,

Abstract. We examineseismograms
from microearth-
quakes
recordedat Kraflacentralvolcano,in theNorthern son,1986;Bjtrnsson,1985;Einarsson
Volcanic
Zoneof Iceland,duringa shortinflationperiodin Tryggvason,
1980;BrandsdtttirandEinarsson,
1988.We producerecordsections for propagation bothto the
northandto the southof the centerof the calderaby com-
biningseismograms from many earthquakes.The northern
recordsectioncontainsclearevidenceof a low velocityzone
(LVZ),includinga low amplitudediffractionof theP waveas
it impinges
on topof theLVZ andhighamplitude reflections
from beneath the LVZ. The absence of clear shear waves in-
dicatesthatthe LVZ is at leastpartiallymoltenandshouldbe
interpretatedas a magmachamber. The magmachamberis
lessthan1 km thick,with a top approximately 3 km beneath
the surface. We find no evidence for a LVZ in the southern
partof thecaldera.
Introduction
Volcanismin Icelandis governed by thecomplicated inter-
actionbetweenthe excessive mantleupwellingat theIceland
hotspotand rifting at the divergentplateboundary,which
is a part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge system. A major rifting
episode hasbeenin progressin the NorthernVolcanicZone
(NVZ) since1975,offeringa uniqueopportunity to studyrift-
ing andmagmatismassociated with plate divergence.This
riftingepisodehasbeenconfinedto theKrafla volcanicsys-
tem, which is one of five NNE-e!ongatedvolcanicsystems
arranged en echelonwithinthe north-south trendingNVZ.
Theriftingactivityhasbeencharacterized byinflation/defla-
tioncycleswhichareregulated byincreasing/decreasing magma
regionabovethemagmachamber[Einarsson,1991;Tryggva-
andBrandsdtttir,1980;
1979;Bj6rns-
son et al., 1977].
The Kraflacalderais situatedin thetopographicandvol-
caniccenterof theKraflavolcanicsystem.It is approximately
10km in diameterandwasformedduringthelastinterglacial
periodbuthassincebeenffiledwithyoungereruptiveproducts
[Smmundsson,
1978].Einarsson[ 1978] usedlocalearthquakes
recordedduringan inflationperiodin orderto delineatetwo
regionsof shearwave attenuation,from which he inferreda
shallowcrustalmagmareservoirat a depthof approximately
3 km nearthe centerof inflation in the caldera. This magma
chamberis smallerthanthe caldera,about2 km by 7 km, with
the long axis orientedE-W and dividednear its top (Figure
1). The southernboundaryof the magmachamberis better
definedthanthenorthernboundarybut itsmaximumdepthat
7 km is not well constrained.
The datausedin this studyconsistsof about200 well-
locatedmicro-earthquakes that occurredduringtheclimaxof
a shortinflationperiodin June-Ju!y1988.We installed4 dig-
ital event-triggered
ScintrexPRS4 recorders(100 samples/s)
withRugbyradiotimingandthreecomponent 2 Hz geophones
(Mark ProductsL22D) within and aroundthe Kratla-caldera,
at an elevation from 480 m to 580 m, in addition to the local
network which consists of 5 drum-recorders with vertical 3
16•75oø60N
00W

pressure in a shallowcrustalmagmachamberbeneaththe
EH
Kraflacalderaandtectonicstress attheplateboundary.Magma
accumulates withinthecalderaregionduringinflationperiods
SU
andis laterallyintrudedintothetransecting
faultswarmdur-
ingbriefdeflationperiods.During1975-1984,twentyinfla-
tion/deflation
cyclestookplacein theKraflavolcanic
system.
Nineof thesedeflationsendedin basalticfissureeruptions.
The
lastdeflation
eruption eventtookplaceinSeptember ! 984after
whichthemagmachamber inflatednormallyduringthenext
3 months, beforecomingto a haltin early1985.Therehave
sincebeenbriefperiods of inflationduringwhichincreased 65ø40N

seismic activityin theuppermost 3 km aroundthecenterof 16ø30W

]
inflation
isgenerated bytheincreasingdifferential
stressinthe
0 km 5
Fig. 1. Kraflacaldera,showingcalderarim (hatchedline),
Copyright
1992by theAmerican
Geophysical
Union. shearwaveshadows (stippledregionafterEinarsson,1978),
seismicstations
(hexagons) andraypaths formicroearthquakes
Papernumber92GL02541 usedin thisstudy(solidlines). Insetshowslocationof Krafla
0094-8534/92/92GL-02541503.00 in the northernvolcaniczone (NVZ) of Iceland.
2381
Hz geophones.Thepurpose of ourexperimentwasto obtain ognize
thata 1-danodel
significantly
oversimplifies
theactual
digitalearthquake
datawithwelldetermined hypocenters
in structure
in theKraflaregion,
wefeelthatmorecomplicated
orderto performwaveformstudiesthatcouldprovideaddi- modelsarenotwarranted giventhepaucityof data.Further-
tionalinformation
onthecurrentstatus
of theKraflamagma more,manyof the structures
at Kraflamayin facttakethe
chamber. formof sub-horizontal
lenses,
asis seenin thedeepboreholes
Evidencefor a thinlow-velocityzonein
inthecaldera
roof[.4xmannsson
etal.,1987].Theupper-
mostcrustalstructure
is similarinsideandoutside
thecaldera
the northernpartof thecaldera
region
andthefaults
along
thecaldera
rimarenotmarkedly
We usedKlein's [1978] HYPOIN RSE program,to- differentfromthefaultsandfissures
thattransectthecalder•
getherwith a 1-d crustalmodelbasedon previousrefraction Therefore, large
seismiccontrasts
arenottobeexpected along
studies
in theregionto locatethemicroearthquakes [Einars- individualraypathswithinandadjacentto thecaldera.
son, 1978]. Most of the eventshave location error of less Weusesynthetic
seismogram
software
developed
byBou-
than 1 km and about 50 % have location error of less than chon(personalcommunication)thatis basedon a 'full wave.
0.5 kin. They originatedin the southertlpartof the caldera form'propagatormatrixtechnique.
The majorfeatures of the
at a depthof 1-3 kin, clusteringaround2 km depthS-SEof synthetic
seismograms
areasfollows:
Thedirectcompres-
thecenterof inflation.The earthquakes mayin factbe con- sionalwave that turnsin the calderaroof, Pt, is seenoutto a
finedto a narrowerdepthintervalthanwe areableto resolve range
of9kin,beyondwhichit becomes
diffracted,
P,ti11.
The
[Arnott,1990]. We interprettheseearthquakes asbeinggen- compressional
wavereflected
fromthetopoftheLVZ,
eratedby increasing crustalstressin thecalderaroof i.e. the arrivesdirectlyafterP• out to a rangeof 5-7 krn, whereit
regionabovethe inflatingmagmachamber.The structure of mergeswith Pt. Compressional
wavesthat arereflectedfrom
the calderaroof is well knownfrom 24 deepboreholes in thebottom
oftheLVZ,P[•/•,ormmbeneath
it, Pb,forma
threedifferentgeothermal fieldsunderexploitationwithinthe highamplitude
cuspata rangeof7 kin. Beyond
thisrange,
Pb
caldera
[krmannsson
etal.,1987],andconsists
of800-1000
m moves
outahead
ofp?t,becoming
thefirstarrival
atarange
of hyaloclastite
andbasalticextrusives
underlainby basaltic of about20 kin.Theshearwaveis visibleat shorter
ranges,
andsmallermounts of rhyoliticintmsives.No earthquakes but alsobecomes
diffractedbeyond9 km. Shearwavesfrom
originated
at the calderarims. The hypocentral
distribution beneaththeLVZ arevery delayedandattenuated,
becauseof
doesnotreflectanyparticularpattern
whichcanbecorrelated theverylow shearvelocityandhigh shearwaveattenuation
to geologicstructures
within the caldera. there.
We observelarge variationsin the seismiccodaof the We constructedtwo recordsections,onefor the stationHF
earthquakesthatdepends onbothazimuthandsource-receiver southof thecaldera,andonefor thetwoneighboring stations
distanceandwhichreflecttheheterogeneous crustalstructure SU andEH northof thecaldera,by combining
seismograms
withinthecaldera.The sameeventoftenhasimpulsive first from manyearthquakes
(Figure3). No correctionwasmade
arrivalsat one stationbut emergentat another.Hencethe for earthquake
depth,butthesimilarityof thecompressional
distinctionthatis oftenmadebetweenA-type('tectonic')and wavecodaof manyneighboring eventssuggests thattheover-
B-type('low-frequency'
or 'volcanic')
earthquakes
(e.g. by all rangeof depthsmay be muchsmallerthanthe +1 km
Minakami [1974] andMalone [1983]) haslimitedusefulness location error.
intheKraflaregion,sinceit doesnotseemtoreferto anyfun- Thenorthernrecordsection fitsoursyntheticdatareason-
damental property of theearthquake source itselfbutdepend ably well. The amplitudeof the first arrival,Pt, decreases
on theraypath.However,generating recordsections using sharply beyond 8 kmrange,whereit becomes theveryemer-
earthquakes arrivingat an individualstationfrom a similar gentPdi/! phase.The cuspassociated with compressional
azimuth enables us to trace some of the variations seen in the wavesfrombeneath theLVZ is clearlyvisibleat a rangeof
seismic coda. about8 kin.Themoveout ofP• isclearlyseen,withthearrival
In orderto explainfeatures seenin theseismograms, we occurring 0.45-0.6s afterP•i// at 7 km rangeanddecreasing
comparethem with syntheticseismograms calculatedfor a to about0.3secafterPt at 10.5kmrange.At ranges lessthan
simple1-d velocitystructurethatcontainsa 600 m thicklow- 6 km•wedetect aphase arriving immediatelyafterPt thatwe
velocityzone(LVZ) at 3 km depthanda source deepin the interpret asp[•/t.Noshear waves aredetectedonthenorthern
calderaroof,at a depthof 2.8 km (Figure2). While we rec- record section.

VELOCITY. km/.•
0 8

0
I

12 •

O -'

0 ', 0 ....
I I ' 'l' ' I" •[
,q-- -0.25 0.25 0.75 •.2s •.?s •.•s -0.25
T - X/5, s

Fig.2.(left)Simple,
!-dvelocity
modelofcompressional
(bold
line)and
shear(solid
line)velocity
asafunction
ofdepth.Note
the600mthick lowv•..iocity
zone.(middle)
Synthetic
record
section
forasourceat2.8kmdepth.
(fight)
Identification
ofmajor
seismicphasesinthe•ecordsection.
Notethehigh
amplitudes
associated
withtheP• andofP?• phases.
 •'•--] SUand
Ell I.•-..] SUand
EH
! VERTICAL
•',--!PdiffPb Pbrefi in.--[RADIAL /

s Pt Ptrefi '• / NOSt

(I .... i ........! I i ' I o "i I" I" I' I
-o.2• 0.2s 0.7• •.2• 1.7• 2.?-5

TIME, s TIME, s

•s HF 15 HF
VERTICAL RADIAL
12 12

'• preft
9 • /
x

()[,'- !IPtI i I.....I

-0.25 0.25 0.75 1.25 1.75 2.2.
•
o- , .........
-0.25 0.25 0.75 1.25 1.75 2.25
TIME,s TIME,s

Fig.3.(Top)
Vertical
andradial
component
recordsections
forpropagation
tothenorth,
constructed
bycombining
earthquakes
observed
atstations
SUandEH.(Bottom)
Vertical
andradial
component
record
sections
forpropagation
tothesouth,
constructed
bycombining
earthquakes
observed
at stationHF.

Ourda'tabestconstrain
the two way verticaltraveltime finedto the regionabovethe LVZ) recordedat LH showa
through
theLVZ, whichis about0.4s.Assigning
a nominal pronounced
secondary
phasearriving0.2 s afterPt on the
compressional
wavevelocityof 3 km/sto theLVZyieldsa radialcomponent
(Figure4). Thissecondaryphaseis most
thicknessof 600 m. This thicknessestimatemustbe treated
pronouncedfor earthquakes arrivingat LH from S-SWbutis
cautiously,
sincethe actualvelocityof theLVZ is notwell presentas an indistinctarrival from other azimuths. It does
constrained
andtheeffectsof possiblethinning
of theLVZ not move out with range, and so must be associatedwith a
tothenorthhavenotbeentakenintoaccount. Nevertheless, feature
closetothestation. Wemodelthissecondary phase as
it is clearthattheLVZ is relatively
thin,perhaps
lessthan a compressional
to shearwave conversionthat occursat the
1 kin. The absenceof clear shearwavesis an indicationthat baseof a surficial
lowvelocitylayerabout500m thickwitha
theLVZisatleastpartially molten,andshould beinterpretedcompressional velocity
of 2 km/s.Sucha lowvelocityregion
asa magmachamber. wasdetectedinthecenterof thecaldera
byAmott[1990].We
Thesouthern record sectionhasa dearPt andfairlyclear interpret
thislow velocityzoneasdueto hydrothermal alter-
St outto a rangeof at least7.5 km. Wefindnoevidence for ationoftherock.TheSt shear wavephase isclearlyseenon
aLVZ in thesouthern partof thecaldera.
However, sincewe theseseismograms,
indicating
thattheshearattenuation
is not
havenodatafor ranges greaterthan7.5kin, we cannotrule sohighastocompletely
removethisphase.
outthepossibility
of a deep(>4 km)magma chamber.
Indeed,
Conclusions
andimplications
a reversely
polarized phasearriving0.1safterPt (Figure3,
bottom)
atarange
of6-7.5kmmight
possibly
bep•,•'tfrom Seismogramsfrom stationsnorth of the Krafla caldera
sucha deepmagmachamber. showsecondary
arrivalsassociated
with reflectionsandre-
fractions
fromthebottomof a low velocityzone,whichwe
Converted
shearphasefroma surface
low-velocity
layer interpret
asa shallow
magma chamber. Thetwo-way travel
at theLeirhnjdkurgeothermal
field timeofthecompressional
wavethrgugh thismagma chamber
is about
0.4s, suggesting
thatit is a relatively
thinfeature,
High-temperature geothermalregions
in Icelandexistin nomorethan1 kmthickandperhaps asthinas600m. This
association
with activevolcanicsystems
wheretheyaresus- thinmagma chamber
islocatedinthecentral-northern
partof
tained
byrepeated
intrusive
activity.Surface
geothermal
ac- theKrafla
caldera.
Thereis a steep,
positive
velocity
gradi-
tivitywithintheKraflacalderais mostintensearoundLeir- entbeneaththelow velocityzone,butwe cannotconstrain
its
hnjdkur
(LH in Figure1) andaroundtheKraflapower plant properties
inanydetail. Wefindnoevidence foralowvelocity
(KR).A large,lowresistivity
bodyoccursin theuppermostzonein thesouthernpartof thecalderabutourdatadonotrule
700m in thecentral
partof thecalderaandisunderlain by outthepossibility
of a deeper(> 4kin)magmachamber there.
abodyof higherresistivity
[Steffinsson,
1981].Earthquakes TheKraflamagma chamber isfundamentally
different
in
withrangesbetween1 and4 km (i.e.raypathsentirely
con- shapefromtheonenear9øNontheEastPacific Rise(EPR)
2384 Brandsd6ttirandMenIce:Thin low-velocityzone

LH-VERT1CAL LH-RADIAL
Bj6rnsson,
A., Dynamicsof crustalriftingin NE Iceland,J,
Geophys.Res.,90, !0.151-10.162, 1985.
Brandsd6ttir,
B., andP.Einarsson,
Seismicactivityassociated
with the September1977 deflationof the Krafla central
volcano
in NE-Iceland,
J. Volcanol.
andGeotherm.
Res.,
6, 197-212, 1979.
Einarsson,P., Earthquakes
andpresent-day tectonismin Ice-
land, Tectonophysics,
189,261-279, !991.
Einarsson, P., S-wave shadowsin the Krafla caldera in NE-
010 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 Iceland,evidencefor a magmachamberin the crest,Bull.
TIME. s Volcanol.,41, !-9, 1978.
forearthquakes Einarsson,P.,andB. Brandsd6ttir,Seismological
Fig. 4. (Top)Verticalandradialseismograms evidencefor
inthedistance rangeof 1-4kin,observed
onstation
LH, which a lateralmagmaintrusionduringthe July 1978 deflation
is in theLeirhnjfikur
hightemperaturegeothermal
fieldin the of the Krafla volcanoin NE-Iceland,J. Geophys.,47, 160-
centerof thecaldera.The second prominent phase,labeled 165, !980.
P=•S, is interpretedas a compressionalto shearwave con- Klein,F. W., HypocenterlocationprogramHYPOINVERSE,
versionat the baseof surficiallow velocityzone. (Bottom) U.S.Geol. Surv.Open-fileRep.,78-694, 113pp., 1978.
Verticalandradialsyntheticseismograms at a rangeof 3 km Malone, S. D., Volcanicearthquakes:
ExamplesfromMount
for a 1-d modelwith a 500 m thicklow velocityzone. St. Helens, in Earthquakes: Observation,Theoryand
Interpretation,LXXXV Corso. Soc. Italiana de Fisica,
Bologna,Italy,pp. 435-455, 1983.
[Tooracye• al., !990; Veraet al., !990], althoughbothare Minakami,T, Seismology of volcanoesin Japan,in Physical
emplacedshallowin thecrustat divergent plateboundaries VoIcanology:Developmentin solid earth geophysics 6,
andbothmaybe steadystate.TheEPR magmachamberis editedby L. P. Civetta,P. Gasparini,G. LuongoandA.
elongated alongtheridgeaxis,whereas S-wavepropagation Rapolla,pp. 1-27,Elsevier,!974.
acrossthe volcanicrift zonesin Icelandprecludes the exis- Sanford,A. R., and E Einarsson,Magma chambersin rifts,
tanceof largescalemagmabodiesatshallowlevels[Sanford in Continentaland Oceanicrifts editedby G. P/dmason,
and Einarsson,1982]. However,the overburdenpressureon AGU/GSA Geodynamics SeriesVolume8, pp. 147-168,
bothmagmachambers is similar,m 80 MPa for Kraflaand 1982.
• 70 MPa for EPR. The overburden pressureis one of the Stefiinsson,V., The Krafla geothermalfield, NortheastIce-
physicalfactorsthatdetermine theboyancyequilibriumof the land. in GeothermalSystems:Principlesand casehisto-
upwellingmagmaandthusthemagmachamber depth. ries editedby L. RybachandL. Muffler, JohnWiley and
Centralvolcanos in Icelandmayhavesmalllocalizedmagma Sons,New York,pp. 273-294,1981.
chambers,which are smaller in diameterthan their circular Saemundsson, K., Fissure swarms and central volcasnoesof
calderas.The moltenzone at the EPR seemsto be very thin, the neovolcaniczones of Iceland, in Crustal evolutionin
perhaps
lessthan100m thick,whiletheKraflamagmacham- northwestern Britain and adjacentregions,editedby D.
ber is 5- !0 time thicker.The greaterthicknessof Krafla - and
R. BowensandB. E. Leake,SeelHousePress,Liverpool,
hencegreatermagmavolume- mayimplythattheresidence England,pp. 415432, 1978.
timeof magmain the Krafla magmachamberis muchlonger Toomey,D., G. Purdy,S. Solomon,andW. Wilcox,Thethree
thanat the EPR. Longerresidence timesmaypartlyexplain dimensional seismicvelocitystructureof the EastPacific
whyhighlyevolvedsi!icicmagmas(leadingto rhyoliticvol- Rise near latitude 9ø30'N, Nature, 347, 639-644, 1990.
canism)are foundat Krafla butnot alongtheEPR. Tryggvason, E., Subsidence eventsin the Krafla area,North
Iceland,1975-1979.J. Geophys.• 47, 141-153,1980.
Acknowledgments.This researchwas supportedby the US Tryggvason, E., Multiplemagmareservoirs in a rift zonevol-
andIcelandicNationalScienceFoundations
andtheFulbright cano:Grounddeformation midmagmatransport duringthe
Foundation. WethankJ6n.&rmann P6tursson in Reynihl[g September 1984eruptionof Krafla,Iceland,J. Volcanol.
for hishospitalityandgeneroussupportduringthefield work. and Geotherm.Res., 28, 144, 1986.
Insightfulcomments by PfdlEinarssonandtwo anonymous Vera,E., J. Mutter,P.Buhl, J. Orcutt,A. Harding,M. Kappus,
reviewersimprovedthe manuscript. Lamont-Doherty Contri- R. Detrick, and T. Brother, The structureof 0 to 0.2 m.y.
bution Number 5019.
old oceaniccrustat 9 degrees North on theEastPacific
Risefromexpanded spread profiles,J. Geophys. Res.,95,
References 15.529-15.556, 1990.
Amott, S. K., A seismicstudyof the Krafla volcanicsystem,
Iceland. Ph.D. theses,,283 pp., Universityof Durham, Brynds Brandsd6ttir,
ScienceInstituteof the Universityof
November 1990. IcelandDunhaga
5, 107Reykjav!'k,
Iceland.
Armannsson,
H., .4.. Gugmundsson,
andB. S. Steingrfms- WilliamMenke,Lamont-Doherty
Geological
Observatory
and
son,Explorationanddevelopment
of theKraflageothermal Department
of Geological
Sciences
of ColumbiaUniver-
area, JOkull,37, 13-30, 1987. sity,PalisadesNY10964, USA.
Bj6rnsson,
A., K. Sa•mundsson, P.Einarsson,E. Tryggvason,
andK. Gr6nvold,Currentriftingepisodein NorthIceland, ReceivedAugust8, 1992;
Nature,266,318-323,1977. acceptedOctober22, 1992.