Oxford Researchers Find 1.5-Km Metal-Brine Zone Beneath Soufrière Hills Volcano
Updated
Updated · ScienceAlert · Aug 24
Oxford Researchers Find 1.5-Km Metal-Brine Zone Beneath Soufrière Hills Volcano
2 articles · Updated · ScienceAlert · Aug 24
Summary
A 1-1.5 kilometer-wide reservoir about 2 kilometers beneath Soufrière Hills appears to hold fluid-rich, metal-bearing brine that could mark the early stages of a new ore body.
23 monitoring stations and earthquake records from 1996 to 2007 let the Oxford-led team track thousands of P- and S-waves, producing a 3D image that separated molten magma from liquid-filled rock.
The map also identified a solid volcanic core, circulating geothermal fluids and a clay cap near the surface, while matching earlier models of the volcano’s internal plumbing.
The study suggests passive seismic imaging could help target critical-metal and geothermal resources without drilling first, though extracting anything from an active volcano remains technically difficult and risky.