Tuesday morning started as a typical office day at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. But then, at 10:25 a.m., a number of text messages and emails arrived in rapid succession. It was time to take a closer look.
The messages all came from the Earthquake Notification Service. The U.S. Geological Survey offers this service to subscribers who wish to automatically receive messages after earthquakes of specific interest to them.
The earthquakes flagged in this series of messages all occurred beneath Kilauea volcano’s south flank. More specifically, they were concentrated beneath a section of Hilina Pali, some eight miles south-southeast of the volcano’s summit. We have focused on earthquakes in this region recently because of their apparent relationship to slow-slip events that occur beneath Kilauea’s south flank. Was another SSE starting? What else might be going on?
It was easy to spot Tuesday’s earthquakes on HVO’s earthquake Web page. Other small clusters of earthquakes also appeared, extending from a few miles due west of Kilauea’s summit crater, into the summit caldera, and along Kilauea’s upper east rift zone. To be sure, these are familiar earthquake source regions to us, and we have a general understanding of what causes them and what their relationships to other processes are.
The earthquakes just west of Kilauea’s summit appear to have occurred along the downward extensions of faults comprising the easternmost part of the Kaoiki fault system which lies between Kilauea and Mauna Loa Volcanoes. These are “normal” faults where the “hanging” wall block moves downward relative to the “footwall.”
Along the Kaoiki faults, the southeastern, Kilauea side of the faults has moved downward relative to the northwestern, Mauna Loa side. This is a natural part of the volcanoes’ evolution, as their flanks slump seaward due to gravity.
Earthquakes clustering west of Kilauea summit, in what we have called Namakanipaio or Kaoiki Pali, sequences and swarms are also consistent with slumping. Earthquake swarms here have preceded intrusions of magma from Kilauea’s summit into the east rift zone during the continuing Puu Oo eruption. Movements along these faults pulse neighboring parts of the volcano and have, at times, led to repeating patterns of earthquake and intrusive activity.
Earthquakes occurring beneath Kilauea’s summit caldera are related to magma accumulation and movement. Changes within the magma system stress the surrounding areas that produce earthquakes on nearby faults and cracks and within magma conduits in the caldera.
Along Kilauea’s upper east rift zone — delineated by the “Chain of Craters” in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park between the summit caldera and Mauna Ulu — earthquake swarms are directly associated with magma movement. Such swarms have coincided with other HVO observations and measurements to confirm their relationship to magma intrusions and eruptions. Tuesday’s upper east rift zone earthquakes were not swarm-like, but rather, continued a trend of persistent, but low-level activity.
Since Tuesday, we have arrived at several conclusions. While eruptions continue in Halemaumau at Kilauea’s summit and at Puu Oo in its east rift zone, there was no large intrusion of magma from the summit into the rift zone. Such an intrusion, as might have been expected after seeing clustered earthquakes near Kaoiki Pali, would have been heralded by more intense upper rift zone earthquakes. The Kaoiki Pali earthquakes could be related to the earthquakes in Kilauea caldera.
The recent Hilina Pali earthquakes do not appear to be signaling the start of another Kilauea SSE. The most recent SSE occurred two months ago, and the next one would not be expected for roughly two years. There was a brief show of similar Hilina Pali events there in early July. Tuesday’s earthquakes are plausibly very similar to those seen in July, but their connection to SSEs is not clear.
Kilauea continues to erupt. Earthquakes continue in familiar locations but subsequent events do not always follow the same patterns. Meanwhile we’re back to a typical day at HVO, keeping up with the incoming data and observations studying the different patterns and processes, and where they fit — or don’t fit — together.
Kilauea activity update
A lava lake within the Halemaumau Overlook vent resulted in nighttime glow visible from the Jaggar Museum overlook and by HVO’s webcam during the past week. The lake level fluctuated slowly between about 200 to 260 feet below the floor of Halemaumau Crater, matching cycles of summit inflation and deflation. There were also several rise-fall cycles, during which the level fluctuated more rapidly.
On Kilauea’s east rift zone, surface lava flows on the coastal plain and pali have been relatively weak over the past week, with a few brief surges on the pali related to summit inflation and deflation. The active flow front was more than 0.6 miles from the ocean. There was no active ocean entry. Incandescence was visible from three degassing vents within Puu Oo, including the pit on the northeastern side of the crater floor which has held a small lava pond. The lava pond was too low to be directly visible via webcam.
One earthquake was reported felt under the island of Hawaii in the past week. A magnitude 3.4 earthquake located close to the Kahua Ranch Office, eight miles south of Halaula and 12 miles deep occurred at 3:51 p.m. July 29.
Visit hvo.wr.usgs.gov for detailed Kilauea, Mauna Loa and Hualalai activity updates, recent volcano photos, recent earthquakes and more; call 967-8862 for a Kilauea summary; email questions to askHVO@usgs.gov.
Volcano Watch is a weekly article and activity update written by scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory