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Hungarian Researchers Use Cosmic Rays to Explore the Complexity of Volcanoes


Sakurajima volcano is Japan.

Hungary’s HUN-REN Wigner Research Center for Physics and the University of Tokyo have pioneered a special technique that can help us get closer to understanding how volcanoes such as Mount Etna and Japan’s most active volcano, Sakurajima, work, the Hungarian research network writes on its website.

A visualization technique called muography, which allows the magma migration beneath the surface of volcanoes to be visualized, was recently used by Hungarian and Japanese researchers in a joint project to study the workings of Sakurajima, one of the world’s most active multi-vent volcanoes. As the article points out, this type of exploration faces significant technical challenges due to the high pressures and temperatures below the surface. However, this technique, using cosmic ray muons to ‘X-ray’ gigantic objects, could greatly facilitate research into the difficult or mostly inaccessible interior of the Earth.

New techniques, such as muography, provide an opportunity to gain better insights into subsurface processes and a deeper understanding of volcanic eruptions,”

said HUN-REN Wigner RCP researcher László Oláh.

For the first time, Hungarian and Japanese researchers have utilized muography to visually monitor magma dynamics between two adjacent active craters off Sakurajima. The muographic images taken during the eruptions showed that the density of magma increased below the activated crater and decreased below the deactivated crater. The increase in density was caused by an increase or decrease in the amount of magma, indicating that the migration of magma depends on which crater is activate.

The simultaneous, opposing changes in density were caused by the magma favoring one crater over the other. This observation is a major step towards improving the prediction of eruption sequences for multi-vent volcanoes”

the researcher added.

The Hungarian-Japanese findings were recently reported in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth.

The functioning of multi-vent volcanoes is very complex, as they produce eruptions of varying locations, styles, and intensities. Exploring their internal structure and simultaneously tracking the movements and changes of volcanic materials in multiple vents separated by a few tens of meters could help more accurately assess the related hazards.

Since 2017, the University of Tokyo and HUN-REN Wigner RCP have been developing and operating a joint muographic observatory at Sakurujima volcano, Kyushu, Japan. Sakurajima is the most active volcano in Japan, with several hundred eruptions per year from its two active craters. Muography can contribute to a better understanding of the various signs of volcanic activity, such as gas emissions and ground deformation.

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Via HUN-REN, Featured image: Wikipedia





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