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Report on Kilauea (United States) — 23 December-29 December 2009


Kilauea

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 23 December-29 December 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, 23 December-29 December 2009. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (23 December-29 December 2009)

Kilauea

United States

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

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


During 23-29 December, HVO reported that lava flowed SE from beneath Kilauea's Thanksgiving Eve Breakout (TEB) and rootless shield complex through a lava tube system, reaching the ocean at Waikupanaha. Thermal anomalies detected by satellite and visual observations revealed active lava flows on and at the base of the pali, and on the coastal plain. On 26 December, explosions at the ocean entry ejected material 15 m high. Incandescence was seen almost daily coming from Pu'u 'O'o crater. The vent in Halema'uma'u crater continued to produce a plume that drifted mainly SW, dropping small amounts of ash, and occasionally fresh spatter, downwind. Incandescence originated from a very active, sloshing lava surface within a single opening on the deep floor of the vent cavity. Parts of the opening rim periodically collapsed into the lava surface generating spatter that deposited on the floor and walls of the vent cavity.

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)