Source mechanisms of persistent shallow earthquakes during eruptive and non-eruptive periods between 1981 and 2011 at Mount St. Helens, Washington

Shallow seismicity between 0 and 3-km depth has persisted at Mount St. Helens, Washington (MSH) during both eruptive and non-eruptive periods for at least the past thirty years. In this study we investigate the source mechanisms of shallow volcano-tectonic (VT) earthquakes at MSH by calculating high-quality hypocenter locations and fault plane solutions (FPS) for all VT events recorded during two eruptive periods (1981-1986 and 2004-2008) and two non-eruptive periods (1987-2004 and 2008-2011). FPS show a mixture of normal, reverse, and strike-slip faulting during all periods, with a sharp increase in strike-slip faulting observed in 1987-1997 and an increase in normal faulting in 1998-2004. FPS P-axis orientations show a similar to 90 degrees rotation with respect to regional sigma(1) (N23 degrees E) during 1981-1986 and 2004-2008, bimodal orientations (similar to N-S and similar to E-W) during 1987-2004, and bimodal orientations at similar to N-E and similar to S-W from 2008-2011. We interpret these orientations to likely be due to pressurization accompanying the shallow intrusion and subsequent eruption of magma as domes during 1981-1986 and 2004-2008 and the buildup of pore pressure beneath a seismogenic volume (located at 0-1 km) with a smaller component due to the buildup of tectonic forces during 1987-2004 and 2008-2011. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.