Can California earthquakes lead to volcanic eruptions?

After a pair of magnitude 5 earthquakes rattled Plumas County late this week, some people may have taken a look 20 miles northwest to another geologically active area: Lassen Volcanic National Park.

In very rare cases, earthquakes can lead to volcanic eruptions, with the earthquake displacing magma surging inside the volcano.

However, there is good news from Lassen Peak, which has been classified as an active volcano: The USGS “doesn’t see anything to indicate that Lassen is experiencing any disturbances,” according to Jessica Paul, a volcanologist with the USGS’ California Volcano Observatory.

Paul said the quakes late Thursday and at dawn on Friday under Lake Almoner were caused by a slippage of one of the faults in the area.

Paul said earthquakes can only lead to volcanic eruptions as there is already enough magma and pressure in the volcano.

Geological consultant Charles Watson said there were some historical examples of large earthquakes leading to a volcanic eruption. Watson said that one of the most prominent of these eruptions was the eruption of Mount Fuji in Japan in 1707, which was caused by an earthquake measuring 8.6 on the Richter scale.

Lassen Peak is considered “resting,” Paul said, meaning there is little risk of a major eruption in the near future. The volcano last erupted in 1917, and is the tail end of an active spell that began in 1914.

“Unless the volcano is really ready to erupt, an earthquake will not cause an eruption,” Paul said.

The region has many different geological forces at work. Watson said Lake Almoner lies at the junction of three rift zones: Tahoe-Mohawk Valley-Lassen, Hat Creek-Lake Almoner, and Butte Creek.

And the most recent earthquake of similar strength occurred exactly 10 years ago: on May 23, 2013, it had a magnitude of 5.7.

Lake Almoner is also part of Basin and Range County, Paul said, an area that “is still in the process of expanding and disintegrating and because of that, we get earthquakes everywhere.”

Meanwhile, Lassen Peak is the southernmost part of the Cascade Volcanic Range, which stretches along the west coast into southern Canada, Ball said. The chain of volcanoes continues when the oceanic crust slides under the continental crust.

Tectonic processes, such as the sliding of one plate under another, can create this channel that runs deep into the earth and intersects magma underground. If an earthquake occurs, it opens up the rift enough that magma can rise through the rock and reach the surface,” Watson said.

Large earthquakes can also cause dissolved gases to escape magma, building up pressure and causing the volcano to erupt, according to the USGS.

“These mechanisms have to do with either getting that magma to flow into the magma chamber or making it create more bubbles, like shaking a soda bottle without taking the cap off,” Paul said.

Paul said volcanologists aren’t sure how big the quake is or how far from the volcano the quake would have to be for an earthquake to trigger an eruption.

“This stimulus is very rare, which is why we don’t have a lot of good examples of it,” Paul said.

Much more common, though: geothermal activity below Lassen Peak often fractures the area’s thin crust and triggers small earthquakes. In a week, he said, Watson could count up to 60 “barely perceptible” earthquakes of magnitude 1 on the Richter scale.

Reach out to Claire Hao: [email protected]; Twitter: @clairehao_

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