Eruptive Activity of Tungurahua Volcano, Ecuador (2008)

Undergraduates: Michael Smith, Mario Ruiz

Faculty Advisor: Jonathan Lees
Department: Geology

---

Tungurahua Volcano is an andesitic stratovolcano located approximately 4 hours south of Quito. Its last major eruption was in May 2006 necessitating the evacuation of a number of surrounding inhabitants. From July 14, 2007 to August 5, 2007 three seismo-acoustic stations were deployed in a triangular pattern approximately 11 kilometers from the summit. Two stations were Gurlap 40T seismometers and one was a 3T broadband seismometer. They recorded data at 500 Hz for 21 days. The data was then downsampled to 125 Hz and events picked. For each event signal to noise ratio was determined and there were 95 events with a ratio greater than 20. The azimuth angle and time, peak to peak amplitude, bandwidth, and maximum frequency were determined. Rise and fall of the event was modeled with exponential curves and the coefficients were used as parameters. Principal component analysis was performed on these parameters and wavelet transforms, spectrums, and spectrograms were observed.