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Report on Kilauea (United States) — June 1988


Kilauea

Scientific Event Alert Network Bulletin, vol. 13, no. 6 (June 1988)
Managing Editor: Lindsay McClelland.

Kilauea (United States) Tube system feeds lava into ocean

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 1988. Report on Kilauea (United States) (McClelland, L., ed.). Scientific Event Alert Network Bulletin, 13:6. Smithsonian Institution. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.GVP.SEAN198806-332010



Kilauea

United States

19.421°N, 155.287°W; summit elev. 1222 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


Lava flows . . . continued to enter the ocean along two fronts E of Kupapau Point. The W flow front had two active areas ~200 m apart. At the W end of a 100-m-wide front, minor littoral explosions built a small ephemeral cone that sometimes grew to 1-2 m high by 4 m in diameter, and added pyroclastic material to a growing black sand beach 100 m to the W. Divers observed development of underwater tube systems that extended as much as a few hundred meters from the coast. Flows from the other front sporadically entered the ocean nearly a kilometer to the E. Surface activity upslope along the two lava tube systems was minimal. The lava pond level remained several meters below the rim all month.

Low-level tremor continued . . . near Kupaianaha and Pu`u `O`o. Amplitude varied according to the pattern of lava movement and ranged from frequent tremor variations, minutes apart during gas-piston activity, to relatively steady tremor sustained for hours to days. Some collapse events at Pu`u `O`o were also recorded. The number of microearthquakes was about average in the summit region and East rift zone. Of more than 1,000 earthquakes located . . . in June, 23 registered at M 2.5-5.1. The largest (M 5.1) was centered above the S flank of Kīlauea at a depth of 10 km on 7 June.

Geological Summary. Kilauea overlaps the E flank of the massive Mauna Loa shield volcano in the island of Hawaii. Eruptions are prominent in Polynesian legends; written documentation since 1820 records frequent summit and flank lava flow eruptions interspersed with periods of long-term lava lake activity at Halemaumau crater in the summit caldera until 1924. The 3 x 5 km caldera was formed in several stages about 1,500 years ago and during the 18th century; eruptions have also originated from the lengthy East and Southwest rift zones, which extend to the ocean in both directions. About 90% of the surface of the basaltic shield volcano is formed of lava flows less than about 1,100 years old; 70% of the surface is younger than 600 years. The long-term eruption from the East rift zone between 1983 and 2018 produced lava flows covering more than 100 km2, destroyed hundreds of houses, and added new coastline.

Information Contacts: C. Heliker and R. Koyanagi, HVO.