Additional investigations show no evidence of April eruption

After a 3-9 April 2001 seismic swarm that was traced to the Jackson Segment of the Gorda Ridge (BGVN 26:03), seismically inferred volcanism remained unconfirmed. The signals detected on 3 April 2001 were located on the S side of the segment, and continued through 9 April. During a six-day period instruments detected over 3,500 earthquakes; 548 epicenters were located. By 11 April seismic activity was at very low levels, possibly below the detection threshold of the T-phase monitoring system.

On 10 April, an NSF- and NOAA-funded response team departed on the ship RV New Horizon to search for mega-plumes from the event, but no plumes were detected. On 26 April the U.S. Coast Guard ship Healy conducted conductivity, temperature, and depth (CTD) probes and took dredge samples on the site. A report made available in late May indicated that investigations from the Healy also failed to find evidence of an eruption at the Jackson Segment and detected no significant thermal anomalies from hydrothermal plumes. Rocks recovered by dredge from the sea floor were clearly old. The entire segment was also resurveyed with multibeam sonar to compare with bathymetry collected before the earthquake swarm. The early April earthquake swarm may have indicated moving magma that never made it up to the sea floor to erupt.

Information Contacts: Bob Embley (NOAA/PMEL) and Jim Cowen (SOEST, Univ. of Hawaii), NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL), 2115 SE Osu Drive, Newport, OR 97365 USA (URL: https://www.pmel.noaa.gov/).

Information is preliminary and subject to change. All times are local (unless otherwise noted)

March 2001 (BGVN 26:03) Cite this Report

Volcanic seismicity along the Jackson segment, early April 2001

Volcanic seismicity along the Jackson Segment of the Gorda Ridge (figure 1) was detected by the NOAA/PMEL T-Phase Monitoring System beginning at ~1750 on 3 April 2001. Data were recorded using the U.S. Navy's Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) in the NE Pacific, and were similar to the seismicity produced by the February 1996 eruption along the North Gorda Ridge segment of the ridge (BGVN 21:02).

Figure 1. Map of Gorda Ridge segments (index map in upper left corner), with arrows locating the 2001 eruption along the Jackson segment; this segment lies ~60 km SW of the site where the February 1996 eruption initiated, along the North Gorda segment. Courtesy of NOAA/PMEL.

For the current episode, epicenters were inferred from hydroacoustic analysis (figure 2). Multibeam bathymetry from the area indicated that the signal source came from within the central axial valley. The activity was located near the summit of the "narrowgate" on the S side of the ridge, and indicated possible dike propagation.

Figure 2. Earthquake locations for the Gorda Ridge derived from hydroacoustic monitoring. The time interval for these events is undisclosed. Courtesy of NOAA/PMEL.

The source of the recorded signals was analogous to the 1996 event's relative location along the ridge. The nature of the seismic character was consistent with other examples of volcanic seismicity that were detected hydroacoustically. These events were characterized by low-magnitude earthquakes emergent from background ambient ocean noise without a large "mainshock" to initiate the sequence. These were then followed by over a week of elevated seismicity, with rapidly repeating (up to 100 events/hour) small earthquakes and nearly continuous volcanic tremor in the range of 2-30 Hz (figure 3). The events were heard on multiple SOSUS arrays without the benefit of beamforming, indicating that they were relatively loud. Recorded epicenter locations as of 4 April indicated lateral migration of events to the S, typical of dike injections. As of 14 April, no hydrothermal plumes had been successfully detected.

Figure 3. Histogram showing seismic events per hour along the Gorda Ridge during 3-12 April 2001. After a figure of NOAA/PMEL.

Information Contacts: Chris Fox, Bob Dziak, and Paul Will, NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL), 2115 SE OSU Drive, Newport, OR 97365 USA (URL: https://www.pmel.noaa.gov/).

August 2001 (BGVN 26:08) Cite this Report

Additional investigations show no evidence of April eruption

After a 3-9 April 2001 seismic swarm that was traced to the Jackson Segment of the Gorda Ridge (BGVN 26:03), seismically inferred volcanism remained unconfirmed. The signals detected on 3 April 2001 were located on the S side of the segment, and continued through 9 April. During a six-day period instruments detected over 3,500 earthquakes; 548 epicenters were located. By 11 April seismic activity was at very low levels, possibly below the detection threshold of the T-phase monitoring system.

On 10 April, an NSF- and NOAA-funded response team departed on the ship RV New Horizon to search for mega-plumes from the event, but no plumes were detected. On 26 April the U.S. Coast Guard ship Healy conducted conductivity, temperature, and depth (CTD) probes and took dredge samples on the site. A report made available in late May indicated that investigations from the Healy also failed to find evidence of an eruption at the Jackson Segment and detected no significant thermal anomalies from hydrothermal plumes. Rocks recovered by dredge from the sea floor were clearly old. The entire segment was also resurveyed with multibeam sonar to compare with bathymetry collected before the earthquake swarm. The early April earthquake swarm may have indicated moving magma that never made it up to the sea floor to erupt.

Information Contacts: Bob Embley (NOAA/PMEL) and Jim Cowen (SOEST, Univ. of Hawaii), NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL), 2115 SE Osu Drive, Newport, OR 97365 USA (URL: https://www.pmel.noaa.gov/).