Three-dimensional seismic transmission prospecting of the Mont Dore volcano, France

Abstract

Summary. The three-dimensional seismic structure of the Mont Dore volcano is studied by inversion of the arrival times of seismic waves. With this aim two new methods are developed. First, the arrival times are those of Moho-reflected waves at a critical distance from artificial sources in different azimuths. Secondly, the inversion uses a technique which does not require the traditional a priori partition of the space into blocks. The resulting picture reveals such features as: (1) a circular caldera within the basement, the rim of which is marked by magnetic anomalies associated with post-caldera activity; (2) a clear lower limit of the volcano-sedimentary sequence under part of the caldera, opposed to low velocity anomalies extending deeper beneath another part and which may have been the site of volcanic material transport, and (3) eeper heterogeneities possibly related to foundered basement blocks.