Volcanomagnetic changes accompanying the onset of the 2002–2003 eruption of Mt. Etna (Italy)

Remarkable changes in the local magnetic field were associated with the onset of the 2002–2003 flank eruption at Mt. Etna. After differential magnetic field measurements were filtered from the external noise by using adaptive filters, we recognized two stages in the total intensity changes, which are closely related to different volcanic events: (a) rapid variations of about 4–5 nT associated with October 26 seismic swarm recorded beneath the summit craters; (b) step-like variations of 9–10 nT coincident with October 27 eruptive fissures opening up in the north flank. These observations are generally consistent with those calculated from simple magnetic models of these volcanic processes, in which the magnetic changes are generated by stress redistribution due to magmatic intrusions at different depth. The magnetic data not only allow the timing of the intrusive event to be described in greater detail but also, together with other volcanological and geophysical evidences, permit some constraints to be set on the characteristics of propagation of a shallow dike. Firstly, at around midnight on 26 October magma was rapidly injected to a depth of 3–4 km just below the summit craters. Secondly, after 1:00 on 27 October, continued intrusion magma occurred upward and culminated a few hundred meters below the free surface fractured along a N–E direction. Thirdly, at about 2:28, magma gave rise to an explosive fissural vent at the northern base of the NE crater near 3000 m a.s.l. Finally, at about 5:00, the first eruptive fissure became active along the eastern border of the NE rift at 2500 m a.s.l. The rate of growth of the magnetic anomalies, moreover, leads to the interpretation that the magmatic intrusion travelled northward from base of the NE crater to the NE rift at approximately 14 m/min.