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Report on Kilauea (United States) — 28 November-4 December 2007


Kilauea

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 28 November-4 December 2007
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2007. Report on Kilauea (United States) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 28 November-4 December 2007. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (28 November-4 December 2007)

Kilauea

United States

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

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


Based on overflights and web camera views, HVO reported that fissure segment D from Kilauea's 21 July fissure eruption continued to feed a lava channel and perched lava ponds that occasionally overflowed their edges during 28 November-3 December. Views were blocked by fumes on 4 December. The small lava pond at the top of the Thanksgiving Eve Breakout (TEB) shield, built directly over the fissure, occasionally overflowed and fed lava flows in multiple directions. On 1 December, one of these flows was L-shaped and 2.1 km long, but mostly active within the upper 800 m. A few small earthquakes were located beneath Halema'uma'u crater and along the SW rift zone and S-flank fault.

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.

Source: US Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO)