Science Behind Hawaii Eruption 2018

Today we look at what’s cooking on the big island of Hawaii. Earthquakes are shaking people up and volcanic eruptions are forcing people to evacuate. Is this something unusual? It definitely is exciting! What’s going on?

To answer this question we need some background on what geoscientists call the Hawaii Mantle Plume . A mantle plume is a focused upwelling of hot material from Earth’s mantle, sort of like a lava lamp. The Hawaiian mantle plume is a very strong and long-lived. Many people think that a mantle plume is all upwelling magma but it’s not, melting only happens at the top of the plume, just beneath the moving plate . Geoscientists have shown that this plume has been pumping magma to the surface for at least 90 million years, since dinosaurs roamed the Earth. How do they know this? They have mapped and dated a mostly submarine chain of volcanoes all the way from the Hawaiian islands 6000 kilometers away, with the extinct volcanoes getting older and older the farther they are from the current location of the mantle plume beneath the big island of Hawaii, where the current eruptions are happening . The Pacific plate is the fastest moving plate on Earth, moving NW at 90 millimeters every year, or about 60 miles every million years. This results in a new volcano forming above the plume every million years or so and lasting 1 or 2 million years before the volcano is carried too far away from the plume and the cycle starts again. The big island of Hawaii started to form less than a million years ago but with this mantle plume, that is enough time to build Mauna Loa . Today, Mauna Loa from the seafloor to its summit is the biggest volcano and the second tallest mountain on Earth, after its neighbor Mauna Kea to the north .

Mauna Loa is still a very active volcano, it last erupted in 1984. But the most intense volcanic activity on Hawaii has shifted ten miles to the east, where more frequent eruptions occur around Kilauea volcano. Geoscientists think that Kilauea lies directly above the main supply of magma from the mantle plume, where they have traced the magma plumbing down 40 kilometers into the upper mantle . Most of the magma now produced by the mantle plume rises beneath Kilauea but mostly doesn’t erupt there. Increasingly the magma flows laterally beneath what is called the East Rift and erupts along it. The East Rift can be traced 30 miles eastward from Kilauea to Kapoho, the easternmost point on the Big Island, and then offshore along the submarine Puna Ridge . The East Rift is where the land to the south slides away from the rest of the big island and this results in earthquakes, including the May 4 Magnitude 6.9 earthquake , when the south side moved about 2 meters to the south. These Earth movements open space beneath the East Rift, providing a great avenue for magma to move eastward from beneath Kilauea as a subterranean magma river and erupt. Kilauea magma has been doing this for some time. In 1983 it started to erupt at “Pu’u O’o” where eruptions have continued since. But now the eruption site is farther east along the East Rift. In recent weeks, geoscientists at the Hawaii Volcano Observatory noticed that the surface of Kilauea volcano was ballooning upwards due to pressure from new magma from the mantle plume. That magma pulse didn’t erupt at Kilauea but flowed down the East Rift Zone, busted past Pu’u O’o and erupted farther east, disrupting the lives of those who live in Leilani Estates.

What’s going to happen next? At the time of making this video, no one knows. This could be the start of a big eruption cycle or the eruptions could become less frequent and intense. Geoscientists will keep their instruments trained on what is rising up beneath Kilauea, because this is where the magma river that flows down the East Rift begins, and on earthquakes beneath the rift, because this tells them how the magma river is flowing.

Thanks for Meghan Miller's help, We updated our reference and sources list. Please check them out if you want to learn more!

Agius M R, Rychert C A, Harmon N and Laske G, 2017. Mapping the mantle transition zone beneath Hawaii from Ps receiver functions: Evidence for a hot plume and cold mantle downwellings: Earth and Planetary Science Letters, V474, P226-236.

Ballmer M. D., Ito G., Hunen J V, and Tackley P J., 2011. Spatial and temporal variability in Hawaiian hotspot volcanism induced by small-scale convection: Nature Geoscience, V4.

Cheng C., Allen R M, Porritt R W, and Ballmer M D, 2015. Seismic constraints on a double-layered asymmetric whole- mantle plume beneath Hawai’I, in Hawaiian Volcanoes: From Source to Surface, AGU Geophysical Monograph 208, Kohn Wiley & Sons, Inc. P 19-34.

Girard G., Reagan M. K., Sims K. W.W., Thornber C R, Waters C L, and Philips E H, 2017. 238U–230Th–226Ra–210Pb–210Po Disequilibria Constraints on Magma Generation, Ascent and Degassing during the Ongoing Eruption of Kı¯lauea: Journal of Petrology, V58 (6), P1199–1226.

Ryan M. P., 1988. The Mechanics and Three-Dimensional Internal Structure of Active Magmatic Systems' Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii: Journal of Geophysical Research, V93 (B5), P4213-4248.

Rychert C A, Laske G, Harmon N, and Shearer P M, 2013. Seismic imaging of melt in a displaced

Hawaiian plume: Nature Geoscience, V6.

Turcotte D. L. and Schubert G., 2012. Geodynamics (2nd edition): Cambridge University Press, P33.

Watson S. and McKenzie D., 1990. Melt Generation by Plumes: A study of Hawaiian Volcanism: Journal of Petrology, V32 (3), P501–537.

Other Sources:

1. Map of the main islands of Hawaii. UTM Zone 4N. Data sources: Natural Earth, Hawaii State GIS Program, USGS map "Hawaii's Volcanoes Revealed". 2. Topographic Map in French of the island of Hawaii. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hawaii_Island_topographic_map-fr.svg 3. Hawaii, Big Island, computer image generated using TruFlite. Author: Martin D. Adamiker. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hawaii-Big-Island-TF.jpg 4. Elasmosaurus Plesiosauria Liopleurodon Styxosaurus Late Cretaceous - Star Ocean, from Kisspng https://www.kisspng.com/png-elasmosaurus-plesiosauria-liopleurodon-styxosaurus-1035870/ 5. Image of a marine crocodilian (dyrosaurid) from the early Paleocene Epoch. Photo: CC BY 3.0. Read more: http://marinesciencetoday.com/2014/09/08/ancient-crocodiles-loved-warm-oceans/#ixzz5GFNVGmo6 6. Eocene Whales and Penguins Off the Coast of Peru, credit: Carl Buell http://ocean.si.edu/ocean-photos/eocene-whales-and-penguins-coast-peru 7. Neoparadoxia cecilialina, Nix Draws Stuff. http://alphynix.tumblr.com/post/114429281969/neoparadoxia-cecilialina-a-desmostylian-marine 8. Google Earth Pro 9. Everest vs Mauna Kea | #4BG 2015-16 | Pinterest https://i.pinimg.com/originals/13/12/1d/13121dc486895c9f7685b084c8ca06ab.jpg 10. ‘Shell-Shocked’ in Hawaii: How Lava Overran a Neighborhood https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/2018/05/07/kilauea/d0c8e121ef3843d697d961566a8eba5b8795d192/diagram-Artboard_1.jpg 11. The Pu‘u ‘O‘o-Kupaianaha Eruption of Kīlauea Volcano, Hawai‘i, 1983 to 2003 (U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 144-02) https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2002/fs144-02/ 12. 6.9 earthquake the southern coast of Hawaii moved towards the ocean by about 2 feet (GPS measurements). Source: Hawaii Volcano Observatory http://seismo.berkeley.edu/blog/index.html https://twitter.com/USGSVolcanoes/status/992858669711699968 13. Temblor map showing earthquakes, faults, and shaded topography. http://temblor.net/earthquake-insights/pele-the-hawaii-goddess-of-fire-lightening-wind-and-volcanoes-7004/ 14. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/05/12/us/kilauea-volcano-lava-leilani-estates-hawaii.html?smid=fb-share 15. Wikipedia Hawaii - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaii 16. Simulated true-color ‘The Big Island of Hawaii’ image, derived from data gathered by the Enhanced Thematic Mapper plus (ETM+) on the Landsat 7 satellite between 1999 and 2001. 17. NBC NEWS - 6.9-Magnitude Earthquake Rattles Hawaii As Volcano Spews Lava TODAY 18. NOAA/NWS/Pacific Tsunami Warning Center – Kilauea Earthquake Animation 2018 19. CBSN - Lava continues to swallow up homes in Hawaii 20.Youtube Videos: - A new fissure opened up on Hawaii's Big Island after dangerous volcano eruption - Big Island Lava Flow (Drone footage) - Eruption of volcano Etna_ spectacular paroxysm - Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology (HIGP) at UH SOEST - Lava Lamp Yellow 4+ Hours Of Relaxing Decompress Enjoy See Bonus 16X Speed At 4hrs 6 Min - Hawaii_ Lava flow and ocean entry