Very- and ultra-long-period seismic signals prior to and during caldera formation on La Reunion Island

Abstract

Early detection of the onset of a caldera collapse can provide crucial information to understand their formation and thus to minimize risks for the nearby population and visitors. Here, we analyse the 2007 caldera collapse of Piton de la Fournaise on La Réunion Island recorded by a broadband seismic station. We show that this instrument recorded ultra-long period (ULP) signals with frequencies in the range (0.003–0.01 Hz) accompanied by very-long period (VLP) signals (between 0.02 and 0.50 Hz) prior to and during the caldera formation suggesting it is possible to detect the beginning of the collapse at depth and anticipate its surface formation. Interestingly, VLP wave packets with a similar duration of 20 s are identified prior to and during the caldera formation. We propose that these events could result from repeating piston-like successive collapses occurring through a ring-fault structure surrounding a magma reservoir from the following arguments: the source mechanism from the main collapse, the observations of slow source processes as well as observations from the field and the characteristic ring-fault seismicity.