Constraints on the source of resurgent doming inferred from analogue and numerical modeling - Implications on the current feeding system of the Yenkahe dome-Yasur volcano complex (Vanuatu)

Resurgence, defined as the post-collapse long-term uplift of a caldera floor, is commonly attributed to a renewed rise of magma. The Yenkahe dome (Vanuatu) exhibits a common morphology - elongated with a graben on top - among resurgent domes, and is also one of the most active structures of the kind. In this study, we performed a joint analysis based on analogue and finite element numerical models to (1) constrain the width and depth of the long-term deformation intrusive source of the Yenkahe dome and (2) discuss the close association between the Yenkahe dome and the active Yasur cone. We consider the resurgent deformation at the surface to be driven by the uplift of a magma reservoir roof in depth. As the edifice deformation response depends on the medium and the source properties, the mechanical behavior of the upper crust and the nature of the source are modeled using two very different sets of hypotheses. Analogue modeling uses silicone putty, an analogue for a large viscous magma body, intruding a sand-plaster mixture reproducing a Mohr-Coulomb behavior for the crust. Numerical models consider the vertical displacement of a rigid indenter, allowing the conservation of a flat-shaped roof, into an elastoplastic material. Numerical and analogue models show different resurgent dome structures at depth but similar dome and graben morphologies in the surface. Inverse faults - or equivalent shearing zones - delimiting the dome provide an explanation for the confined nature of resurgent doming and the persistent volcanic activity on the dome border represented by the Yasur volcano. Analogue and numerical models together provide an estimation range of 1-1.8 km for the intrusive deformation source depth, and 1.3-2 km for its width. The proposed association between the Yenkahe dome and the Yasur volcano is compatible with such a shallow depth of the magma reservoir, and argues for a discontinuous resurgence process.