Hawaiian Volcano Observatory: Its First 100 Years of Advancing Volcanism

AGU Chapman Conference on Hawaiian Volcanoes: From Source to Surface 20-24 August 2012, Waikoloa, Hawaii, USA Hawaiian Volcano Observatory: Its First 100 Years of Advancing Volcanism

Observatory Robert I. Tilling

Volcano Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey Menlo Park, California 94025 AGU Chapman Conference on Hawaiian Volcanoes: From Source to Surface 20-24 August 2012, Waikoloa, Hawaii, USA Hawaiian Volcano Observatory: Its First 100 Years of Advancing Volcanism

Observatory Robert I. Tilling

Volcano Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey Menlo Park, California 94025 FOCUS OF MY TALK EARLY HISTORY OF HVO: THOMAS JAGGAR’s VISION & LEGACY

FREQUENT, PROLONGED HISTORICAL ACTIVITY HAS ENABLED “LIVE” STUDY OF ERUPTIVE PROCESSES & PRODUCTS IMPORTANCE OF LONG-TERM, REGULAR OBSERVATIONS & MEASUREMENTS LONG-TERM DATASETS CONSTRAIN THEORETICAL AND TOPICAL STUDIES HVO AS A PROVING & TRAINING GROUNDS FOR VOLCANO MONITORING THE HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY (HVO) IS A NATURAL LABORATORY FOR STUDYING BASALTIC VOLCANISM

HVO THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS ARE JUST A SMALL SEGMENT OF A 6,000 km-LONG SUBMARINE VOLCANIC RANGE: THE HAWAIIAN RIDGE-EMPEROR SEAMOUNTS CHAIN “VOLCANIC TRAIL” OF THE HAWAIIAN “HOTSPOT” WITHIN THE PLATE TECTONICS FRAMEWORK

Plate motion

Hawaiian “Hotspot” J. TUZO WILSON ORIGINATED THE CONCEPT OF “HOTSPOTS” IN THE 1960s TO EXPLAIN THE OCCURRENCES OF VOLCANOES FAR FROM BOUNDARIES BETWEEN TECTONIC PLATES

Wilson‘s original 1963 diagram of the “hotspot” model for the Hawaiian Islands UPDATED CARTOON OF THE HAWAIIAN “HOTSPOT”: WILSON‘S MODEL OF AGE PROGRESSION CONFIRMED BY MODERN GEOLOGIC AND DATING STUDIES DYNAMIC DUO IN EARLY HVO HISTORY

Thomas A. Jaggar Frank A. Perret 1871-1953 1867-1943 Jaggar tending to pendulum seismometers in Whitney Vault, basement of HVO THE “TECHNOLOGY STATION”, 1911: THE FIRST ACTUAL HVO BUILDING, PERCHED AT HALEMAUMAU EDGE CABLE-TROLLEY SYSTEM USED TO COLLECT SAMPLE & MAKE TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT IN HALEMAUMAU LAVA LAKE, 1911. FIRST EVER EXPERIMENT IN WORLD,

(Perret, 1913) PERRET AT HALEMAUMAU WITH FIRST-EVER SAMPLE COLLECTED FROM ACTIVE LAVA LAKE

Perret JAGGARHVO’s’ SMISSION: VISION & LEGACY1912-

“…SEE or MEASURENOW the whole volcano inside and out with ALL OF SCIENCE to help.” “…The WORK should be humanitarian… prediction and methods of PROTECTING LIFE and PROPERTY on the basis of sound SCIENTIFIC ACHIEVEMENT.”

“KEEP and PUBLISH careful records, INVITE the whole WORLD of SCIENCE to COOPERATE, and INTEREST the BUSINESS MAN.” HVO’s MISSION: 1912-NOW MONITOR active and potentially active Hawaiian volcanoes and associated seismicity ASSESS volcanic and earthquake hazards

RESPOND to volcanic crises

CONDUCT research on volcanoes and earthquakes INFORM responsible emergency managers and affected populace about potential volcanic hazards

Babb et al., 2011, p. 10 MEASUREMENT OF TILT AT KILAUEA SUMMIT: LONG-TERM CONTINUOUS VOLCANO MONITORING

900 Whitney Vault seismometric Uwekahuna tiltmeters

N-S E-W N-S E-W Tilt, microradians Tilt,

1912 1960 2012 LONG-TERM MONITORING OF SO2 EMISSION RATES AT KILAUEA SUMMIT, 1979-2011

(Summary plot by Tamar Elias, HVO) COMPARISON OF SO2 EMISSION RATES AT KILAUEA SUMMIT & EAST RIFT, 1997-2011

Summit East Rift

(Summary plot by Tamar Elias, HVO) TEMPORAL VARIATIONS IN LAVA COMPOSITION DURING THE PU’U O’O ERUPTION, 1983-2001 1,170

1,130 Temperature, C˚

9 (After Thornber, 2003)

MgO, wt. % 6

11.5

CaO, wt. % 9.5 1982 DATE 2002 CARTOON OF THE KILAUEA’S “VOLCANIC PLUMBING SYSTEM”

(After Ryan, 1987) KILAUEA’S VOLCANIC “PLUMBING SYSTEM” DERIVED FROM HVO MONITORING DATA

(After Ryan, 1987)

Seismic monitoring data! (Klein et al., 1987) DIRECT OBSERVATIONS OF THE FORMATION & EVOLUTION OF ERUPTIVE PROCESSES & VOLCANIC LANDFORMS VENT & LAVA-FLOW PHENOMENA

VOLCANIC SHIELDS AND CONES

PERCHED LAVA PONDS & CHANNELS

LAVA-TUBE SYSTEMS

ROOTLESS SHIELDS & SHATTER RINGS

COMPLEX LAVA-FLOW FIELDS

LAVA DELTAS OBSERVED PROCESSES & PRODUCTS OF HISTORICAL LONG-LIVED ACTIVITY

HIGH (> 500 m) LAVA FOUNTAINS

PAHOEHOE-AA TRANSITIONS

DYNAMICS OF LAVA FLOWING IN TUBES

INFLATION OF PAHOEHOE FLOWS

FORMATION OF PILLOW LAVA

VARIATION IN LAVA COMPOSITION DURING ERUPTION HIGH LAVA FOUNTAINING (> 500 m) AT KILAUEA

Kilauea Iki, 1959 Mauna Ulu, 1969 Pu’u O’o, 1983 LAVA FALLS AND LAKES, KILAUEA VOLCANO

Lava cascades 25 m into Aloi Crater, 1969

Lava swirls in active lava lake, 150 m across, Pauahi Crater, 1973 EXAMPLES OF LONG, PAHOEHOE LAVA FLOWS Pu’u O’o, Kilauea, 1983

Mauna Loa 1984

“Pele Dancing” (Photo by Katia Krafft) A LONG-LASTING LAVA CHANNEL CAN BECOME ROOFED TO FORM A LAVA TUBE

Mauna Ulu, 1969

When eruption stops and lava drains, the lava tube becomes a volcanic cave, such as Thurston Lava Tube, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park SCUBA DIVERS FILMING THE FORMATION OF PILLOW LAVA

Photo courtesy of Lee Tepley LONG-LASTING ERUPTIONS CAN DEVELOP ACTIVE LAVA LAKES AT CENTRAL VENTS

Perched lava lake, Halemaumau Crater, 1967-68

(Kupaianaha, 1986) REPEATED OVERFLOWS FROM LAVA LAKES FORM VOLCANIC SHIELDS OR CONES

Aerial view in 1972 of lava shields formed during the Mauna Ulu eruption, 1969-74

Pu’u O’o cone, 1984 GROWTH OF MAUNA ULU SHIELD, 1969-1970; MAXIMUM HEIGHT OF 121 m reached in early 1974

(Swanson et al., 1979) GROWTH OF THE PU’U O’O LAVA CONE, 1983-1986

Maximum height (~254 m) attained in mid-July 1986

(Heliker et al., 1979) NIGHT VIEW OF THE PU’U O’O LAVA CONE, JANUARY 1992, AT ITS MAXIMUM SIZE

Photo by Peter Mouginis-Mark, UH Lava cone Pu’u O’o lava cone (~ 255 m high) Satellitic lava shield in June 1992

Same view in August Lava shield now larger 1997, after major collapse in January 1997 LOIHI: HAWAII’S ACTIVE SUBMARINE VOLCANO

RISES ~ 3.1 km ABOVE SEA FLOOR TO WITHIN 950 m OF OCEAN SURFACE

MANY SEISMIC SWARMS SINCE 1959

MAJOR ERUPTION IN 1996

NEW SUMMIT PIT, 600 m wide and 300 m deep

NEW HYDROTHERMAL VENT, ~ 200 ˚ C. STUDIES OF LOIHI USING MANNED SUBMERSIBLES & ROVs SHOW ABUNDANT VERY FRESH PILLOW LAVA FLOWS AND TALUS WITH GLASSY CRUSTS

Shinkai 6500 Shinkai 6500

Pisces V Pillow lava on Loihi surface at 1.3 km water depth BEGINNING IN 1960, DRILLING STUDIES OF PASSIVE LAVA LAKES: KILAUEA IKI (1959), ALAE (1963), AND MAKAOPUHI (1965) Drilling operation in 1975 at Kilauea Iki

Looking down borehole in 1975 at still-molten, glowing 1959 lava DRILLING STUDY OF THE COOLING & CRYSTALLIZATION HISTORY OF THE 1965 MAKAOPUHI LAVA LAKE

These samples represent the still-molten portion of the lava lake at time of sampling and in-hole temperature measurement

Photomicrographs courtesy of Thomas L. Wright, USGS/HVO ACTIVELY FORMING LAVA DELTA (4 DAYS OLD) DURING THE PU’U O’O ERUPTION IN 1992

100 m LARGEST COLLAPSE OF A LAVA DELTA, EAST LAE’APUKI, KILAUEA VOLCANO, AND ITS RAPID RE-GROWTH

2 Dec. 2005: By late-April 2006, 4 days after major it had rebuilt to a collapse (~ 18 hectares) size larger than pre-collapse REFINEMENT OF THE GEOLOGIC MAP OF THE ISLAND OF HAWAII

Stearns & Macdonald Wolfe & Morris (1946) (1996) LAVA-FLOW HAZARDS MAP, ISLAND OF HAWAII LAVA FLOWS DO NOT OBEY STOP SIGNS ! LAVA FLOW IN 1989 SETTING FIRE TO THE WAHAULA VISITOR CENTER OF HAWAII VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK

Lava flow FIREMAN ATTEMPTS TO COOL AND STOP THE LAVA FLOW TO SAVE SOME OF THE BUILDING ATTEMPT TO SAVE THE VISITOR CENTER FAILS ALL THAT REMAINS OF THE VISITOR CENTER AFTER THE FIRE CAUSED BY LAVA FLOW THE 1984 MAUNA LOA ERUPTION, AS VIEWED FROM HILO, HAWAII HISTORIC CHURCH IN KALALPANA, HAWAII, BEING MOVED OUT OF HARM’S WAY FROM APPROACHING LAVA FLOW DURING THE PU’U O’O ERUPTION HISTORIC CHURCH IN KALALPANA, HAWAII, BEING MOVED OUT OF HARM’S WAY FROM APPROACHING LAVA DURING THE PU’U O’O ERUPTION

Church being moved by truck and trailer

Church moved to the site safe from lava flow MAY 1924 ERUPTION AT HALEMAUMAU: THE ONLY MAJOR HISTORICAL EXPLOSIVE ACTIVITY > 1790 MAY 1924 ERUPTION AT HALEMAUMAU: THE ONLY MAJOR HISTORICAL EXPLOSIVE ACTIVITY > 1790

“Kilauea…has not always been the tame creature of today.” — (Hitchcock,1909, p. 167) SURGE IN MAGMA SUPPLY TO KILAUEA, 2003-2007

Summit

CO2 emission

East Rift Zone

SO2 emission

Poland et al., Ground 2012 Deformation (GPS)

Seismic monitoring

Geochemical monitoring & geothermometry 2000 YEAR 2010 THE KILAUEA-MAUNA LOA CONNECTION: IS THERE ONE?

(Pritchard, 2012, based on Poland et al., 2012) AN IDEAL NATURAL LABORATORY, HVO HAS ADVANCED VOLCANOLOGY IN ITS FIRST 100 YEARS YEARS, AND WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO IN THE NEXT 100 AND BEYOND Mahalo nui loa!

(Pauahi, Kilauea, November 1973)