Overview
- Using CENAPRED seismic records from January 2019 to December 2024 with machine learning, UNAM geophysicists produced a higher-resolution tomographic image of Popocatépetl’s interior.
- Two of three hypothesized magma chambers were imaged to about 10 kilometers depth and are roughly 70% crystallized, indicating largely stagnant material that can occasionally reheat.
- Activity in a deeper third reservoir could not be resolved, prompting plans to study seismic energy loss to locate hotter zones and a need for additional monitoring.
- The model extends to structures about 30 kilometers below sea level, near the mantle, and the automated event-detection work is published in the Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research.
- In separate research, UNAM anthropologists reported a possible horizon calendar stone and documented 74 previously unregistered archaeological sites along 140 kilometers of Sonoran coast, warning of risks from uncontrolled visitation.