资源环境科技发展态势分析平台

We present results of the joint analysis of ground deformation and superconducting gravity data encompassing the Etna' s December 2018 eruption. The horizontal ground deformation points to a mechanism of dike opening. Accordingly, we consider forward analytical models describing the effects of a tensile dislocation and use two data inversion approaches, based on heuristic and probabilistic methods. The observed changes can be explained assuming the intrusion of a fluid lighter than bubble‐free magma, along a dike‐like structure. However, the poor fit to the vertical deformation and the discrepancy between bulk volume increase, deduced by the data inversion (some tens of millions of m³), and volume emitted through effusive activity (~ 1 million of m³) suggest that a more complex mechanism led to the eruption, involving partial inelastic accommodation of the strain and the formation of void space through increase in the fracturing rate of the medium.