Lava Lake At Kilauea Rises To Record Levels

One of the lava lakes at Hawaii's Kilauea volcano has risen to record levels, spilling onto the crater floor, and giving scientists a really epic show. Video posted on NBC.com shows some nice shots of the action. According to NBCnews.com and HVO, the lava lake at Halema'uma'u crater, the larger of the two main craters of Kilauea as well as the summit crater, the lava lake inset in the rim of the Halema'uma'u crater has overflowed to the crater floor. This is the first time since Halema'uma'u crater exploded in 2008 that the lava lake has overflowed the rim.

The lava lake is inset in the rim of the crater, and was formed in a large ash producing eruption in 2008. This event was preceded by harmonic tremor and uplift of the area, and was witnessed by Hawaiian volcano Observatory volcanologists.

The current theory is that the magma system at Kilauea is re-pressurizing, following a large deflation event that occurred when a fissure opened up West of Puʻu ʻŌʻō crater, which drained the magma lake at the summit, and caused the collapse of the crater floor at Puʻu ʻŌʻō which lowered the crater floor significantly, and quickly. This event was also caught on camera. Since then, the magma pressure, and inflation has been occurring at Kilauea.

While NBC's Brian Williams incorrectly (or rather, stated out of context) in the video that Kilauea has "Been active since 2008", the eruption has actually been going on at Kilauea since December of 1983, when eruptions resumed after a decade or so of dormancy. Neighboring Mauna Loa and Kilauea volcanoes were erupting simultaneously from March 24-April 15, 1984, which destroyed neighborhoods in the Kalapana area, and neared the town of Hilo.

Kilauea is one of the world's most active volcanoes, and the current eruption is one of the longest running historical eruptions of our time. Indeed, the activity on Kilauea is rivaled by only a few volcanoes, such as Mt. Etna in Sicily, and perhaps Piton de la Fournaise on Reunion Island, a French territory. It's neighbor, Mauna Loa is the largest volcano by volume on the planet earth, rising from sea floor to summit, it is larger than Mt Everest, and also a very active volcano. While it has not erupted since the early 1980's, slow inflation, and motion of the SE flank is an early indication that it will erupt in the future.

All of the Hawaiian islands have a volcanic past, due to a mantle plume hotspot that travels slowly under the crust, occasionally popping through. While Mauna Loa and Kilauea are the newest volcanoes in the Hawaiian chain that are above sea level, to the S of the Big Island, another, younger volcano, Loihi, is expected to break the surface of the ocean and either add on to the Big Island's landmass, or create a brand new Hawaiian island in the next 10,000 years. While not as active as Kilauea or Mauna Loa, the motion of the hotspot will one day retire the volcanic activity on the Big Island, and Loihi will assume the role of the most active Hawaiian volcano. 

Quake Swarm In SW Yellowstone Caldera

A minor earthquake swarm of upwards of 30 events has occurred in Yellowstone National park, just SW of the rim of the caldera, and just inside the Island Park caldera. The events were at depths ranging from 20km-9km. This could indicate a small injection of magma into Yellowstone's upper magma chamber, but could also be nothing more than crustal adjustments.

Yellowstone's magmatic system is considered to be in two distinct parts. The first, deeper part is the actual mantle plume, which stretches to the NW into Montana (or rather far under it), with the second, shallower (3-5km deep) magma chamber that is actually responsible for the hydrothermal system being much shallower. Volcanogolgists consider the shallower magma chamber to be made of a 'crystal mush', or slightly cooler magma that is only partially molten. This chamber gives off plenty of heat, and is the cause of the geysers in the national park.

An injection of fresh magma into this chamber from the mantle plume would give some cause for concern, and would heighten the chance of an eruption, however probably not an eruption of massive proportion that most people fear from Yellowstone. Indeed, while Yellowstone is responsible for some of the world's largest eruptions in prehistoric times (the last 'super-eruption' being somewhere around 600,000 years bp), it can and does produce much smaller eruptions such as phreatic explosions.

It is likely that this is normal behavior for Yellowstone, as yearly, it produces plenty of volcanic earthquake swarms. If this was a magmatic intrusion of any kind, it will likely not manifest on the surface, as the magma chamber is literally humongous, and such a small amount of magma, if any, that is injected would be like a drop of water into a lake.

The quake swarm appears to only have lasted one day, and so far has not produced many aftershocks, which is what leads me to believe that this is probably at least a small dike intrusion, or some mantle plume activity (possibly an underground collapse at great depth). In any case, I'm always looking for a good excuse to write about Yellowstone, as it is a fascinating, beautiful, and potentially terrifying volcano. If anything further develops, you can be assured I will cover it!

Below is a picture of the current swarm from Google Earth/USGS.