Magnetotelluric imaging of crustal magma storage beneath Mesozoic crystalline mountains in a non-volcanic region, Northeast Japan

Umeda, Koji; Asamori, Koichi; Negi, Tateyuki*; Ogawa, Yasuo*

Mesozoic crystalline mountains (Iide Mountains) in a non-volcanic region of the Northeast Japan arc were imaged by wide-band magnetotelluric soundings. A two-dimensional model showed that an anomalous conductive body ( 10 ohm-m) is clearly visible beneath the Iide Mountains. The conductor widens with increasing depth, and extends from the near-surface down to the base of the crust and perhaps into the upper mantle. Considering several signals imaging the presence of crustal magma storage, such as high-temperature regime, hot spring gases with high He/He ratio, thinning of the brittle seismogenic layer and anomalies of low seismic velocity, it is reasonable to suppose that the conductor reflects partial melt and/or high-temperature aqueous fluids in the crust, related to renewed magmatism in the present-day subduction system.