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Report on Kilauea (United States) — 21 July-27 July 2010


Kilauea

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 21 July-27 July 2010
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2010. Report on Kilauea (United States) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 21 July-27 July 2010. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (21 July-27 July 2010)

Kilauea

United States

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

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


During 21-27 July HVO reported that activity at Kilauea continued from the summit and the east rift zone. At the summit, the level of a lava-pool surface in the deep pit within the floor of Halema'uma'u crater remained mostly stable; glow from the vent was also visible at night. A plume from the vent mainly drifted SW.

At the east rift zone, lava flows that broke out of the TEB lava-tube system advanced E and NE along coastal highway 137 beginning on 17 July and expanded S, filling in the area between the highway and the N-facing scarp of the Hakuma horst. On 24 July, lava flowed N and by the next morning had destroyed a home in Kalapana Gardens. Advancing lava flowed over an area of the horst and on 25 July reached the ocean. On 26 July, lava caused small brush fires and methane explosions in a kipuka on the W edge of the Kalapana subdivision. By 1200 on 27 July, a second lava flow 500 m E of the ocean entry had advanced over the horst and was about 20 m from the ocean. At Pu'u 'O'o crater, intermittent incandescence from lava flows on the N crater floor was visible starting on 24 July.

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)