Geology, Geochemistry and Earthquake History of Loieihi Seamount, Hawaiei's Youngest Volcano
ARTICLE IN PRESS Chemie der Erde ] (]]]]) ]]]–]]] www.elsevier.de/chemer INVITED REVIEW Geology, geochemistry and earthquake history of Lo¯"ihi Seamount, Hawai"i’s youngest volcano Michael O. Garciaa,Ã, Jackie Caplan-Auerbachb, Eric H. De Carloc, M.D. Kurzd, N. Beckera aDepartment of Geology and Geophysics, University of Hawai"i, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA bAlaska Volcano Observatory, U.S.G.S., Alaska Science Center, Anchorage, AK 99508, USA cDepartment of Oceanography, University of Hawai"i, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA dDepartment of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA Received 6 June 2005; accepted 20 September 2005 Abstract A half-century of investigations are summarized here on the youngest Hawaiian volcano, Lo¯"ihi Seamount. It was discovered in 1952 following an earthquake swarm. Surveying in 1954 determined it has an elongate shape, which is the meaning of its Hawaiian name. Lo¯"ihi was mostly forgotten until two earthquake swarms in the 1970s led to a dredging expedition in 1978, which recovered young lavas. The recovery of young lavas motivated numerous expeditions to investigate the geology, geophysics, and geochemistry of this active volcano. Geophysical monitoring, including a real- time submarine observatory that continuously monitored Lo¯"ihi’s seismic activity for 3 months, captured some of the volcano’s earthquake swarms. The 1996 swarm, the largest recorded in Hawai"i, was preceded earlier in the year by at least one eruption and accompanied by the formation of a 300-m deep pit crater, Pele’s Pit. Seismic and petrologic data indicate that magma was stored in a 8–9 km deep reservoir prior to the 1996 eruption.
[Show full text]