Jessica (Jessie) Schuler
Contact
Email: jessie.schuler@vuw.ac.nz
Office: CO421
Qualifications
BSc in Geology and Geophysics, Victoria University of Wellington (2020)
MSc Candidate in Geophysics
Research Interests
Volcanology and Seismology
MSc thesis
Title
Changes in Seismic Velocity Accompanying Geodetically Detected Deformation at Taupō Volcano
Supervisors
Project objectives and description
Taupō Volcano sits in the center of the North Island of New Zealand and is one of the most frequently active and productive rhyolite calderas in the world. Despite this, Taupō’s periods of volcanic unrest are not well understood, and monitoring of the volcano is largely impeded by the overlying Lake Taupō. In the past, geodetically detectable deformation associated with volcanic unrest has often gone unnoticed until seismic activity was triggered. This was the case during the 2019 unrest period when inflation began beneath the Horomatangi reefs 6 months prior to a seismic swarm occurring beneath the lake.
This study takes advantage of GeoNet’s continuous seismic data archives and ~2 years of data from the ECLIPSE seismic network (October 2019–May 2022), to gain a deeper understanding of Taupō’s periods of unrest. This has the potential to help monitor, and potentially forecast, future activity. We use ambient noise to measure subsurface seismic velocity variations beneath Taupō over the past 7 years, focusing particularly on the 2019 unrest period. We also investigate local deformation likely caused by a steeply-eastward dipping fault in the Western Bay of Lake Taupō that occurred in the 2 weeks following the Kaikōura earthquake in 2016. By focusing on such periods, we hope to determine whether measurable seismic velocity variations are correlated with Taupō’s deformation and to better understand potential causes of unrest at the supervolcano.