Hawaiian Volcano Update: Kīlauea Slowly Resumes Filling Following Intrusion

Earthquakes encompassing Kīlauea’s Southwest Rift continued at much lower rates this past week, while the volcano’s summit appears to have resumed slowly inflating. This may have been accelerated by the widely-felt magnitude 5.7 quake 23 miles deep under Pāhala last Friday, which otherwise is reported to have had no significant impact on the island’s volcanoes. More recently, the volcano’s near-summit magma may have resumed its usual deflation-inflation cycles, with slight deflation currently ongoing. The scale of summit deflation associated with the recent intrusion is substantial, such that the volcano has some work to do to repressurize to its prior state.

The 5.7 event was felt state-wide, generating over 5,000 citizen reports, and has since been followed by 378 aftershocks highlighted by a magnitude 3.5 and two 3.4’s. It is attributed to the flexing of the oceanic crust beneath the substantial weight of the volcanic pile that makes up the island, although acknowledged that this area has also been linked to magmatic processes related to the deep plumbing of Kīlauea and Maunaloa.

Otherwise, Maunaloa remains relatively quiet with few earthquakes, with slowing inflation as it recharges with magma, and remains at the lowest USGS warning level.

As usual we review the monitoring signals, imagery and reports available courtesy of the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, annotating the presentation on screen and discussing live viewer questions as we go. To support our productions please like, share and subscribe, and consider making a donation at https://hveri.org/donate .