LONG VALLEY OBSERVATORY QUARTERLY REPORT

July-September 2001

 

Long Valley Observatory

U.S. Geological Survey

Volcano Hazards Program, MS 910

345 Middlefield Rd., Menlo Park, CA 94025

 

http://lvo.wr.usgs.gov

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This report is a preliminary description of unrest in Long Valley caldera and Mono-Inyo Craters region of eastern California. Information contained in this report should be regarded as preliminary and is not be cited for publication without approval by the Scientist in Charge of the Long Valley Observatory. The views and conclusions contained in this document do not necessarily represent the official policies, either express or implied, of the U.S. Government.

LONG VALLEY OBSERVATORY QUARTERLY REPORT

July-September 2001

 
CONTENTS

 

 

EARTHQUAKES

CALDERA ACTIVITY

SIERRA NEVADA ACTIVITY

REGIONAL ACTIVITY

DEFORMATION

TWO-COLOR EDM SUMMARY

GPS – CONTINUOUS MEASUREMENTS

DILATATIONAL STRAIN AND TILT

            Instrumentation

            Highlights

MAGNETIC MEASUREMENTS

            INSTRUMENTATION

            HIGHLIGHTS

 

CO2 STUDIES IN LONG VALLEY CALDERA: 2nd & 3rd Quarter – 2001           

 

HELIUM ISOTOPE VARIATIONS IN MAMMOTH MOUNTAIN FUMAROLE

 

 

SUMMARY

 

The quiescence in Long Valley caldera that began in the spring of 1998 continued through the first quarter of 2001. The resurgent dome, which essentially stopped inflating in early 1998 and showed minor subsidence (of about 1 cm) through the first half of this year, has shown no further changes this quarter. The center of the resurgent dome currently stands just under 80 cm higher than prior to 1980. Seismic activity within the caldera has typically included fewer than five small earthquakes per day, most with magnitudes less than M=2.0. Diffuse emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the tree-kill areas around the flanks of Mammoth Mountain continue at the relatively high levels that have persisted since 1996.

 

Up-to-date plots for most of the data summarized here are available on the Long Valley Observatory web pages (http://lvo.wr.usgs.gov).

 

EARTHQUAKES (D.P. Hill and A.M. Pitt)

 

CALDERA ACTIVITY:

Earthquake activity within Long Valley caldera remained low with only a few (typically fewer than five) events per day large enough to be detected and located by the real-time computer system (generally M > 1). The largest earthquake to occur within the caldera this quarter was a M~2.0 event at 12:47 PM on September 12 located just 0.5 mile northwest of the geothermal plant (3 miles east of Mammoth Lakes).

 

 

 

 

SIERRA NEVADA ACTIVITY:

Most earthquakes occurring within the Sierra Nevada block south of the caldera during the first quarter of 2001 were again concentrated in the aftershock zone for the three M5 earthquakes of 8 June 1998 (M=5.1), 14 July 1998 (M=5.1), and 15 May 1999 (M=5.6), which defines a 15-km-long, linear zone of epicenters extending to the south-southwest into the Sierra Nevada from the southeastern margin of the caldera. The largest of these earthquakes was a M=3 event at 5:33 PM on September 12 located 1 mile south of Grinnell Lake (12 miles southwest of Tom’s Place).

 

 

REGIONAL ACTIVITY:

A magnitude M=2.9 earthquake at 11:55 PM on August 29, which was located 15 miles west southwest of Bishop, produced felt shaking in the Bishop area.

 

Further a field, an earthquake swarm that began on July 15 in the Coso volcanic field (in the southern Owens Valley 120 miles south southeast of Long Valley caldera) continued through early August. This swarm included over 30 earthquakes with magnitudes of M=3.0 or greater including M=4.9 and 4.7 earthquakes on July 17th.

 

 

DEFORMATION

 

TWO-COLOR EDM SUMMARY (John Langbein, and Stuart Wilkinson)

A two-color Electronic Distance Meter (EDM) is used to monitor the lengths of approximately 10 baselines in and near the Long Valley Caldera shown in Figure EDM-1.  The precision of each length measurement is between 0.5 and 1.0 mm.  The 8 baselines shown with heavy lines that use CASA as a common end point are measured several times each week. Other baselines that have CASA in common are measured at less frequent intervals of 1 to 2 months. The remaining baselines are currently measured once per year. With the frequent measurements, we can monitor temporal changes in the deformation. With the annual measurements, we can monitor the spatial extent of deformation.

 

 

 

Figure EDM-1 Map showing 2-color EDM baselines

 

The measurements of length changes shown in Figure EDM-2 for the frequently measured baselines show that the gradual contraction that began in early 1999 appears to have stopped in mid-2000. These two-color data indicate that the baselines spanning the resurgent dome contracted by roughly 2 cm since mid 2000. This compares with over 35 cm of extension from the beginning of the 2-color EDM measurements in mid-1983 through mid-1998. Based on the relation between leveling and 2-color data, the center of the resurgent dome remains about just under 80 cm higher than in the late 1970’s prior to the onset of caldera unrest.

 

 

Figure G2. Line-length changes for the EDM baselines measured from CASA from the beginning of measurements in early 1984 through December 19, 2001.

 

 

GPS  – CONTINUOUS MEASUREMENTS. (John Langbein, Elliot Endo, Frank Webb, Tim Dixon, Stuart Wilkinson, and USGS-Menlo Park, USGS-CVO, JPL, and U. Miami)

Over the past 6 years, 12 GPS (Global Position System) receivers have been installed within and near the Long Valley Caldera. Of these, eight were installed in the past 2 years by Elliot Endo of the Cascades Volcano Observatory. The locations of  receivers within the caldera are shown in Figure GPS-1. It is intended that data from these receivers and a few more additional installations will take over the long-term monitoring supplied by the two-color EDM. The three component displacement data are shown in Figure GPS2-4 for all 12 receivers along with two other sites, CMBB and MUSB located on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada. The site at CASA now has two receivers; one operating since 1994 and the second one, CA99, installed this past summer.

 

The travel-time measurements from each receiver is processed daily to produce a position in a reference frame with North America fixed. Additional processing involves removing a temporal, common-mode signal from each time-series of displacements as well as the gross outliers. To re-adjust the data to a more local reference frame, a rate is removed from each time series. This rate is the average displacement rate from 1996 to the present of the 2 Sierra Nevada stations, CMBB and MUSB. In the plots, to show any deviation from a constant rate, the local rate is also removed and that rate is posted next to the trace of the residual displacements. These preliminary GPS data are consistent with no significant deformation within Long Valley caldera over the past year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DILATIONAL STRAIN MEASUREMENTS (Malcolm Johnston, Doug Myren, Bob Mueller and Stan Silverman)

 

I. Instrumentation

Dilational strain measurements are being recorded continuously at the Devil's Postpile, POPS, and at a site, PLV1, just to the north of the town of Mammoth Lakes in Long Valley and at the two new sites, MCX and BSP (Figure D1). The instruments are Sacks-Evertson dilational strain meters and consist of stainless steel cylinders filled with silicon oil that are cemented in th

e ground at a depth of about 200m. Changes in volumetric strain in the ground are translated into displacement and voltage by an expansion bellows attached to a linear voltage displacement transducer. This instrument is described in detail by Sacks et al.(Papers Meteol. Geophys.,22,195,1971).

 

 

Figure D1. Location map for borehole dilatometers (triangles) and tiltmeters (solid circles). LB is the Long Base tiltmeter.

 

Data from the strainmeters are transmitted using satellite telemetry every 10 minutes to a host computer in Menlo Park. The data are also recorded on site on 16-bit digital recorders together with 3-component seismic data and on backup analog recorders. A summary of the high-frequency seismic and strain data is also transmitted by satellite.

 

II. Dilatometer Highlights

The borehole dilatometers show no geophysically significant signals this quarter.

Real-time plots for these instruments are available at

http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/QUAKE/crustaldef/longv.html.

 

TILT MEASUREMENTS  (Mal Johnston, Vince Keller, Bob Mueller and Doug Myren)

 

I. Instrumentation

Instruments recording crustal tilt in the Long Valley caldera are of two types - 1) a long-base instrument in which fluid level is measured in fluid reservoirs separated by about 500 m and connected by pipes (this instrument (LB) was constructed by Roger Bilham of the University of Colorado), and 2) borehole tiltmeters that measure the position of a bubble trapped under a concave lens.(All Others). Figure D1 shows the locations of the seven tiltmeters that are installed  in Long Valley, California.

 

All data are transmitted by satellite to the USGS headquarters in Menlo Park, Ca. Data samples are taken every 10 minutes. Plots of the changes in tilt as recorded on each of these tiltmeters are shown. Removal of re-zeros, offsets, problems with telemetry and identification of instrument failures is difficult, tedious and time-consuming task. In order to have a relatively up-to-date file of data computer algorithms have been written that accomplish most of these tasks most of the time. Detailed discussion or detailed analysis usually requires hand checking of the data.  Flat sections in the data usually denote a failure in the telemetry Gaps denote missing data. All instruments are scaled using tidally generated scale factors.

 

II. Tiltmeter Highlights

 

The tiltmeters showed no significant changes this quarter.

Real time plots of the data from these instruments can be viewed at http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/QUAKE/longv.html.

 

MAGNETIC MEASUREMENTS (R.J. Mueller and M.J..S. Johnston)

 

BACKGROUND

 Local magnetic fields at Hot Creek (HCR) and Smokey Bear Flat (SBF) in the

Long Valley Caldera have transmitted data via satellite telemetry to Menlo Park since January 18, 1983. Satellite telemetry has been operating at station Sherwin Grade (MGS) since January, 1984. Between August 1998 and August 1999, eight additional magnetometers, together with a 3-component system and a magnetotelluric system (MT), were installed at existing telemetry locations inside and adjacent to the Long Valley Caldera in cooperation with Dr. Yosi Sasai (Univ. of Tokyo) and Dr. J. Zlotnicki (CNRS, France). These and other data provide continuous 'real-time' monitoring in this region through the low frequency data system. The location of these sites is shown on Figure 1. Temporal changes in local magnetic field are isolated using simple differencing techniques.

 

 

 

 

 

DATA

 Plots of daily averaged data from the telemetered magnetometer stations in the

caldera are shown in Figures 2-5. Each of these stations are referenced to a site on Sherwin Grade (MG) located to the south of the caldera.

 

HIGHLIGHTS

No significant changes in magnetic field were observed during this reporting period. 

 

CO2 STUDIES IN LONG VALLEY CALDERA: 2nd & 3rd Quarter – 2001

Ken McGee, Terry Gerlach, and Mike Doukas, Cascades Volcano Observatory, Vancouver, WA

 

The GOES-telemetered carbon dioxide monitoring network in the Mammoth Lakes area continued to transmit data on soil gas carbon dioxide concentrations throughout the report period.  Station HS1 is located near the central portion of the Horseshoe Lake tree kill in an area of high CO2 ground flux while HS2 is located in a lower flux area near the margin of the tree kill and HS3 is outside the tree-kill zone in the group campground area.  Stations located away from Horseshoe Lake include SKI, located near Chair 19 in the Mammoth Mountain Ski Area, SRC, located at Shady Rest Campground adjacent to the USFS Visitor Center in Mammoth Lakes, EQF, located near Earthquake Fault, and LSP, located near Laurel Spring in the inferred Long Valley caldera rim fault.  At all sites, CO2 collection chambers are buried in the soil.  Air from these collection chambers is pumped to nearby carbon dioxide sensors housed in USFS structures or culverts.  Local barometric pressure is also measured at HS1 using a Vaisala Pressure Transducer.  Data are collected from the sensors every hour and are telemetered every three hours via GOES satellite. The GOES transmitting antennas, typically mounted inside adjacent USFS structures, continue to produce strong signals to the satellite even after significant snow buildup on the roofs of the structures.  All monitoring sites have backup data loggers that also record ambient temperature. Snow data are obtained from a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation monitoring station at Mammoth Pass. 

Data for the middle six months of 2001 from most of the telemetered monitoring stations are shown in the attached figure along with snow depth (SWE) at Mammoth Pass. [Note: all dates and times in UT.  Gas data not corrected for pressure and temperature.]  The early portion of the record from these monitoring stations reflects the usual decline of the winter snow pack.  Curiously, the distinct increase in CO2 concentration in April and early May at SKI (and noted in the first quarter of 2001 as well) also suggests a snow effect.  The snow effect at SKI has been minimal to nonexistent in the past.  By mid-summer, many of the monitoring stations had telemetry or other problems as shown by the gaps in the record.  Since we no longer have a technician on the project, repair of these stations had to wait until August at the time of the annual maintenance trip.  A scheduled airborne gas flight at Mammoth Mountain was not completed due to the lack of availability of an aircraft.  It is hoped the flight can be rescheduled during the fourth quarter of this year.

 

HELIUM ISOTOPE VARIATIONS IN MAMMOTH MOUNTAIN FUMAROLE

Mike Sorey, Bill Evans, John Rogie, and Mack Kennedy

 

Samples collected in 2000 and 2001 from the Mammoth Mountain Fumarole (MMF), on the north side of Mammoth Mountain, continue the time line of variations in helium isotopic composition began in 1989.  Beginning in March 2001, samples have once again been collected at relatively frequent intervals (1-2 months) to allow a possible relation between 3He/4He at MMF and the occurrence of LP events beneath the Mammoth Mountain region to be better delineated.

 

Values of 3He/4He plotted in Figure 1 show a general trend of declining magmatic component following the 1989-1990 period of significant increase in this component.  However, short periods of increasing 3He/4He occurred in 1992, 1997 and 2001.  The increase in 1997 may be related to increased magmatic degassing associated with increased LP activity beginning in the spring of 1997.  Similarly, the significant increase in 3He/4He in samples collected from March-August 2001 may also be related to increased LP and VLP activity beginning in the summer of 2000.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Figure 1.  Helium isotope ratios in fumarole MMF on the north side of Mammoth Mountain and occurrences and magnitudes of long-period (LP) earthquakes and large regional earthquakes for the period 1989-2001.  Lines depicting LP events are length-sdaled to their magnitude (data provided by Mitch Pitt), except for 2 very long-period (VLP) events at depths as shallow as 4 km that occurred in the summer of 2000.