Abstract
Since the beginning of the 21st century, volcanic unrest has occurred every 2–5 years at Hakone volcano. After the 2015 eruption, unrest activity changed significantly in terms of seismicity and geochemistry. In this paper, characteristics of the post-eruptive volcanic unrest that occurred in 2017 and 2019 are described, and changes in the hydrothermal system of the volcano caused by the eruption are discussed. Like the pre- and co-eruptive unrest, each post-eruptive unrest episode was detected by deep inflation below the volcano (~ 10 km) and deep low frequency events, which can be interpreted as reflecting supply of magma or magmatic fluid from depth. The seismic activity during the post-eruptive unrest episodes also increased; however, seismic activity beneath the eruption center during the unrest episodes was significantly lower, especially in the shallow region (~2 km), while sporadic seismic swarms were observed beneath the caldera rim, ~3 km away from the center. The 2015 eruption established routes for steam from the hydrothermal system (≥ 150 m deep) to the surface through the cap-rock, allowing emission of super-heated steam (~ 160 ºC), which was absent before the eruption. This steam showed an increase in magmatic/hydrothermal gas ratios (SO2/H2S and HCl/H2S) in the 2019 unrest, which may be interpreted as magmatic intrusion at shallow depth; however, no indicative seismic and geodetic signals were observed. Net SO2 emission during the post-eruptive unrest episodes, which remained within the usual range of the post-eruptive period, is also inconsistent with shallow intrusion. We consider that the post-eruptive unrest episodes were also triggered by newly derived magma or magmatic fluid from depth; however, the breached cap-rock was unable to allow subsequent pressurization of the hydrothermal system beneath the volcano center and suppressed seismic activity significantly. The heat released from the newly derived magma or fluid dried the vapor-dominated portion of the hydrothermal system and inhibited scrubbing of SO2 and HCl to allow a higher magmatic/hydrothermal gas ratio. The 2015 eruption could have also breached the sealing zone near the brittle–plastic transition and the subsequent self-sealing process seems not to have completed based on the observations during the post-eruptive unrest episodes.
Volcanic Unrest at Hakone Volcano after the 2015 phreatic eruption — Reactivation of a Ruptured Hydrothermal System?