Work

The explosive engine of the 2022 Hunga submarine eruption

Year: 2026

Type: preprint

Abstract: The 2022 submarine eruption of Hunga volcano, Tonga, was among the largest volcanic eruptions in the modern era, yet the processes controlling its explosive sequence remain poorly understood. Here we present the first detailed insight into the internal mechanics of an explosive cycle from teleseismic waveforms. Four eruptive episodes repeat an implosion-explosion cycle, separated by a 3-minute pause dominated by shear deformation. The cycles reveal an explosive engine driven by a hydraulically isolated, conduit-scale volume that is orders of magnitude smaller than the reservoir and re-pressurized between failures through seawater-driven phreatomagmatic inflow. Because recurrence is set by the repressurization rate of the sealed volume, the pace of an explosive sequence reflects the scale of its driving system, from minutes at conduit scale to days at reservoir scale.

DOI: 10.31223/x5322s

Authors: Ryo Okuwaki, Wenyuan Fan, Osamu Sandanbata, Diana Roman, Yuri Fialko

Institutions: University of Tsukuba, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, Earthquake Research Institute, University of Tokyo, The University of Tokyo, Carnegie Institution for Science, Earth and Planets Laboratory

Language: English

Topic: Geological and Geophysical Studies

Subfield: Geology

Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funder: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

Awards: What rocks the Earth? Unearthing non-earthquake sources from noise, Comprehensive understanding of fault-slip behaviors in volcanic calderas for monitoring and predicting submarine volcanic activity

OpenAlex ID: W7212107969

Cites: 66

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Related to: 10