The Magma Feeding System of the Klyuchevskaya Group of Volcanoes (Kamchatka)

Abstract

Using observations from a large-scale seismic station network, we built a seismic tomography model of velocity anomalies for longitudinal (P-wave) and transverse (S-wave) seismic waves beneath the Klyuchevskaya group of volcanoes. The observational network (about 150 km) and the number of seismic stations (about 200) made it possible to determine the velocity structure to depths of 150 km. A low-velocity anomaly is observed almost beneath all volcanoes in the Klyuchevskaya group of volcanoes at a depth of 50 km. Beneath the Shiveluch volcano, in the region where the subduction plate discontinues, an anomaly can be detected to depths of 150 km. Most likely, in this zone, there is a channel for the penetration of magmatic melts to the surface along the boundary of the submerging Pacific Plate ending. This is indirectly confirmed by the presence of a mantle plume to a depth of 1000 km, as previously shown by the seismic tomography studies and an anomalous heat flow at the junction of the Kuril–Kamchatka and Aleutian island arcs.