Using existing seismic and gravity data from the island of Hawaii and a state-of-the-art particle dynamics modeling approach, researchers will study the deformation of Hawaiian-type oceanic basalt volcanoes. The project will first focus on refining the resolution of a three-dimensional velocity and density model for Hawaii by combining the results of active seismic experiments conducted onshore and offshore with passive (earthquake) data compiled by collaborators at the U.S. Geological Survey Hawaii Volcano Observatory. The resulting joint tomographic inversion will yield substantially better constraints on subsurface density structure than are presently available and provide the starting model for inversion of available gravity data, the task that constitutes the second part of the project. The gravity analysis is expected to produce information about the internal structure of the Hawaiian volcanoes, including the shape, depth, and density of magmatic bodies. These results will in turn feed into the third component of the research, which is the development of sophisticated discrete element models (DEM) for deformation of the volcanoes. Such particle dynamics approaches permit incorporation of heterogeneities, discontinuities, and interfaces that traditional continuum models do not. Broader impacts of this project include rapid dissemination of results via a web portal, the potential for this research to further elucidate the tsunamogenic potential of some features of the Hawaiian volcanoes, collaboration between university and government researchers, the possible implication of the results for volcanoes on Earth and Mars, and student involvement.
