The eruptive episode . . . continued into October, building a new pahoehoe lava shield ~3 km NE (downrift) of Pu`u `O`o, the vent active in most of the 47 previous episodes. The estimated lava output rate since 20 July is ~0.5 x 10<sup>6</sup> m<sup>3</sup>/day. The new shield grew 10 m in height during September, to 44 m high and 1,600 m across by the end of the month. Activity from the shield's W vent stopped by mid-September, but lava production was continuous through a 150-m lava pond in the shield's E vent. Depth of the pond varied by no more than 3 meters. Through most of September, the activity fed a series of small pahoehoe flows that did not extend much beyond the margin of the shield. A lava tube system formed in late September, feeding lava flows that advanced SE at irregular rates of as much as 0.5 km/day. At the end of September, a thin broad flow front was 4 km from the vent, and by 8 October a complex network of tube-fed flows occupied a broad area between the westernmost 1977 lava and the longest April 1984 flow. The conduit at Pu`u `O`o remained open and incandescent, with flaming gases visible at night.

Low-level harmonic tremor was continuous, with minor fluctuations in amplitude. No well-defined trends were detected by the summit tiltmeter, and some of the measured variation may have been instrument response to heavy rains (figure 45).

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: C. Heliker, HVO.