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Report on Kilauea (United States) — 25 March-31 March 2009


Kilauea

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 25 March-31 March 2009
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2009. Report on Kilauea (United States) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 25 March-31 March 2009. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (25 March-31 March 2009)

Kilauea

United States

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

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


During 24-31 March, HVO reported that lava flowed SE from underneath Kilauea's Thanksgiving Eve Breakout (TEB) and rootless shield complex through a lava tube system, reaching the Waikupanaha and Kupapa'u ocean entries. Daily thermal anomalies seen on satellite imagery suggested surface flows on the coastal plain.

The vent in Halema'uma'u crater continued to produce a predominantly white plume that drifted mainly SW. Incandescence was intermittently seen from the vent, and sounds resembling rushing gas were sometimes heard in the vicinity of the crater. Variable amounts of tephra and some Pele's hair were retrieved almost daily from collection bins placed near the plume. On 24 March, a dusty brown plume rose from the vent. Geologists utilizing an infrared camera saw at least two spattering openings deep below the vent rim. On 25 March, two more brown plumes were emitted. A larger collapse was followed by a large, dense, brown plume, and several more brown plumes over the next two hours. The rockfalls within the vent covered the previously seen hot vents. During 26-28 March, infrared camera views revealed a rising and falling lava surface deep below the crater floor. The lava surface was static, but circulating on 29 March. The sulfur dioxide emission rate at the summit was 500, 900, and 1,000 tonnes per day on 25, 26, and 30 March, respectively; the 2003-2007 average rate was 140 tonnes per day.

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)