Experts map deep magma reservoir below Washingtons Mt. Rainier

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Experts map deep magma reservoir below Washington's Mt. Rainier

Experts map deep magma reservoir below Washington's Mt. Rainier

By Victoria Cavaliere

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Experts have mapped a huge magma reservoir below Mount Rainier in Washington state that begins melting deep in the Earth's mantle before pushing upwards to where it will eventually be tapped for eruption.

Researchers from the United States and Norway used seismic imaging and the measurement of variations in electrical and magnetic fields to create a detailed road map of the pathway molten rock takes to the surface.

Their findings, published this week in the journal Nature, are aimed at helping experts understand the volcano's inner workings, and eventually determine when it might again erupt.

A state landmark, Mount Rainier last erupted in the 19th century. It is widely expected to erupt again, according to the U.S. National Park Service.

The tallest volcano and fifth-highest peak in the contiguous United States, it towers some 14,410-feet (4,392 meters) about 58 miles (93 km) southeast of Seattle, from most of which it is visible.

Phil Wannamaker, a geophysicist at the University of Utah, said the new images were most detailed to date, but that they did not provide any information on the timing of future eruptions by Mount Rainier or other Cascade Range volcanoes.

The volcano's magma forms deep in the Earth's mantle, the layer between the planet's crust and its core. The magma, which is fluid molten rock, then flows upwards to a pool about five miles (8 km) below the peak, the study found.

The pool appears to be about 5 to 10 miles (8 km to 16 km) thick and the same width, the researchers said.

 

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Scientists: Mount Rainier Will Erupt Again



Friday, 18 Jul 2014 02:28 PM

By Melanie Batley

Scientists have determined that Mount Rainier volcano will erupt again, but the question of when remains unanswered.

Using a recently developed scientific method, a study at the University of Utah was able to "map" Rainier's magma "plumbing" by measuring how quickly the Earth conducts electricity and seismic waves, the Daily Digest News reported.

"This is the most direct image yet capturing the melting process that feeds magma into a crustal reservoir that eventually is tapped for eruptions," geophysicist Phil Wannamaker of the university's Energy & Geoscience Institute and Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, told the Daily Digest News.

"But it does not provide any information on the timing of future eruptions from Mount Rainier or other Cascade Range volcanoes."

Most of the volcano's magma reservoir is located somewhere between six and 10 miles northwest of it, unlike other volcanoes where the magma reservoir tends to be located underneath.

In the case of Rainier, it is buried about five miles under the surface, and appears to be five to 10 miles thick, and five to 10 miles wide in east-west extent, Wannamaker said.

Magma could also be sitting under Rainier but the 80 electrical sensors in the experiment were placed in a 190-mile-long, west-to-east line roughly 12 miles north of the volcano, so would not have detected it, the Daily Digest News reported.

The scientists estimate that 30 percent of the reservoir is molten, while the remaining 60 percent is in a sponge-like state.

The volcanic flows of Rainier are believed to be roughly 36 million years old. The U.S. Geological Survey describes Rainier as "an active volcano that will erupt again," the Daily Digest News reported.