Call for Abstracts: Geophysical Perspectives on Volcanic Systems: Seismicity, Structure, and Dynamics | SSA 2026 Annual Meeting

[Guanning Pang]

Dear community

We invite you to submit abstracts to our session, 'Geophysical Perspectives on Volcanic Systems: Seismicity, Structure, and Dynamics,' at the SSA 2026 Annual Meeting in Pasadena, California (April 14–18). 

Session details:

Geophysical Perspectives on Volcanic Systems: Seismicity, Structure, and Dynamics

Over the past few decades, significant advances have been made in understanding the structure and dynamics of volcanic plumbing systems. Our perspective has shifted toward the concept of trans-crustal magmatic system (TCMS), in which magma is distributed across vertically extensive regions throughout the crust rather than only stored within shallow-melt-dominant chambers. However, geophysical imaging may only detect a small portion of the melt in the upper crust beneath many active volcanoes and it struggles to constrain magma storage in the mid- to lower crust. Direct evidence for TCMS beneath modern active volcanoes is lacking, raising a critical question: Do TCMS truly represent the nature of magma storage beneath volcanoes? Furthermore, answering fundamental questions regarding the mechanism and evolution of magma supply, storage, and transportation remains an essential challenge. 

This session invites contributions aimed to advance our knowledge of volcanic plumbing system across various spatial and temporal scales, from mantle magmatic/tectonic processes to surficial hydrothermal/eruptive activities, and from decadal to instantaneous activities. We encourage studies presenting recent advancements including, but not limited to, high-resolution and multiparameter (e.g., velocity, anisotropy, attenuation) seismic imaging and monitoring that utilize phases from passive or active sources or full wavefields, analyses of volcanic seismicity such as volcanic-tectonic events, deep long-period earthquakes, and tremors. Applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning in this context are encouraged, along with studies integrating multi-physics datasets such as magnetotelluric, geodetic, and gravity data. We envision that the session discussion can help to gain new insights into the evolution of magmatic systems and their implications for volcanic hazards. 

Conveners

Guanning Pang, University of Science and Technology of China

Sin-Mei Wu, University of Hawaii at Manoa

Brandon Schmandt, Rice University

Alysha Armstrong, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Abstract Deadline: January 13, 2026, 11:59 PM Pacific Time (US)

On behalf of the conveners 

Guanning Pang

Guanning Pang, Ph.D

Assitant Professor

School of Earth and Space Science

University of Science and Technology of China

pgn...@ustc.edu.cn