The . . . E-51 vent was intermittently active during September. Flows headed S and E, reaching the edge of the lava field by 6 September and 660 m (2,170 ft) elevation on 8 September. Flows stagnated the following day when the eruption paused. The vent reactivated 12 September when lava broke out of the tube ~1 km from the vent, forming sluggish channelized pahoehoe flows that advanced S from the shield complex, reaching the SW edge of the flow field and slowly burning vegetation in the National Park (figure 85). The eruption paused 27 September and activity at the vent area declined the next day as the E-51 spatter cones stopped glowing, lava in the skylights slowed, and flows stagnated.

The Pu`u `O`o lava lake remained active all month, its surface fluctuating between 70 and 51 m below the crater rim. The level of lava in Pu`u `O`o was low before and during the pauses, rising immediately before renewed activity at the vent. There was steady circulation from the W to the SE edge of the lake.

Tremor increased to 3x background 3-6 September, began a gradual decline on 7 September, the day before the eruption paused, then increased again to 3x background as the eruption resumed on 12 September (17:8). Eruption tremor remained steady until the eruption paused again in late September. Shallow, long-period (1-3 Hz) seismicity peaked at >140 events on 7 September.

Episode 52 (E-52). A M 4.5 earthquake occurred at about 2000 on 2 October [but see 14:10] on the S flank, W of Royal Gardens subdivision, at ~6.5 km depth. An anomalous glow, reported to the Civil Defense authorities soon after the shock, marked a new eruptive fissure on the S flank of Pu`u `O`o and the beginning of E-52. Seismic tremor and summit tilt . . . did not show any significant changes until about 0300 on 3 October, when tremor amplitude recorded near Pu`u `O`o increased dramatically and the summit region began to subside as magma was withdrawn and erupted from the new fissure. By 1000, helicopter pilots reported that a new aa flow had advanced ~3 km and was burning the forest just E of the E-51 lava. The E-51 vents, which had restarted during the late afternoon of 2 October, stopped as the new E-52 vents became active. Late on 3 October, the E-51 vents slowly started up again, and by early the next afternoon the lava output from the E-52 vent had decreased slightly as emission from the E-51 vents increased. Lava from both vents was ponding just S of Pu`u `O`o as of 5 October.

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: T. Mattox, M. Mangan, and P. Okubo, HVO.