Swarm of Quakes hit Island of Hawai

A swarm of around two hundred quakes have hit the area since yesterday. The largest was a magnitude 3.8 quake

The first quake, of a magnitude 2.7 took place 2007/06/17 at 12:17:41 (UTC), followed by many within Hawaii Island.
EQ Center

Quakes could be related with the Volcano
Honolulu News and

On Sunday, 260 minor earthquakes were on the Big Island, forcing the closure of Volcanoes National Park.

More information on "Volcano Thread".



[edit on 18-6-2007 by Ptolomeo]

For 2 days, Hawaii has suffered a swarm of microquakes that are probably related with magma movement.

This could mean an increase of activity, a major eruption or just the displacement of magma without further consequences. Who knows?

Will have to keep a close eye on it.

It could be related to Mauna Loa, but more likely it's something related to Kilauea. It's been erupting for something like 24 years. In the last few years Mauna Loa has been growing and shrinking, so there are concerns about it possibly erupting in the near future.

I will keep Hawaii in my prayers as always. We do have a local here on the forum, I will ahve to look up his info if I can remember where, and we can get some first hand info on this from him. I always worry about the high water surges when they get even a few quakes off the coast. I wonder if this spells another big one for Japan?

As small as these are they're not going to affect the water at all. They used to have small ones on the Big Island all the time when I was there. Just not in these numbers. Most of them you couldn't even feel.

Here is that post:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

It was written by Darkmile77
I think I will U2 him and hope for a reply.

National Park

Closure of Lae`apuki lava delta:

The Lae`apuki lava delta (which is roped off), Wilipea bench, the west Highcastle beach, and the Highcastle beach are closed and marked with area closure signs. These areas are closed because they are extremely unstable and poised to collapse without warning.

Kauahikaua said the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory is watching the situation closely, and deployed field crews to the area to more closely monitor the changes at the volcano. There are several possible outcomes of the earthquakes, he said.

"The most dramatic would be some sort of surface breakout of lava here near Mauna Ulu," Kauahikaua said. "The best would be, of course, that it's just going to remain underground, and it would be a very interesting Father's Day morning." Kauahikaua said the earthquakes are coming so close together that USGS instruments were combining the magnitudes of the some of the temblors and overstating the size of some of the quakes. In one case the instruments incorrectly reported a quake of a magnitude of greater than 5, he said.

Source: Honolulu News

What I find interesting is the location of all these quakes.
Have you checked this list?
USGS Hawaii

Seems as if more than one volcano is having underground activity.

I agree with you Zapcod58 about Kilauea.
Let´s hope it is only magma movement and that it will not have a major eruption...

Hope we can have some more info from the ATS member living there.

Thank you, Antar

I hope that nothing serious happen. Please, keep us update.

Before I left Mauna Loa had grown, but I can't remember how much. It was a few centimeters I remember. They said it had been growing and shrinking over the last few years. It was a big threat to Hilo if it went off. But then right around the time I left, they said it had gone back down and all the earthquakes had settled down. Mauna Loa had gone through this before, and then nothing happened, so they were in a waiting game to get more information on what it was about to do.

As for the unstable areas, Kilauea has had several ledges drop off from the flows. IIRC one was about 40 acres of total area that dropped into the ocean suddenly. That's nothing new for them to close off areas, along the shore.

The floor of the Pu'u O'o vent collapsed, and levels of the East Lake lava area are dropping. It looks like this is the most likely cause of the quakes, as magma adjusts to the blockage, and finds a new way to come to the surface.

Scientists say one possibility is that the flow of magma that normally supplies the ongoing Pu'u 'O'o eruption has been diverted at some point above the Pu'u 'O'o system.

A check by helicopter found that lava flows from Pu'u 'O'o toward the ocean appeared to be normal yesterday, but Brantley said scientists saw evidence the underground magma source that replenishes Pu'u 'O'o may have been choked off.

SEVERAL POSSIBILITIES

The floor of Pu'u 'O'o collapsed, rockfalls from the south wall of the Pu'u 'O'o cone also suggested instability there, and lava levels in what scientists call the East Pond vent nearby appeared to be dropping. Another vent on the south side of Pu'u 'O'o also collapsed.

All of that suggests that while lava continues to flow out of the magma reservoir at Pu'u 'O'o, it apparently isn't being replenished, causing the area to sink.

www.honoluluadvertiser.com.../20070618/NEWS11/706180351/1001/NEWS11

I am sure they know how to proceed when an eruption becomes a possibility and wish that this is not going to happen.

Why do you think that the quakes are taking place in such a wide area? Is it because magma is pushing under more volcanes than only at Kilauea or is this normal?

By the way, this is part of the last report of Kilauea

Intermittent faint glow is only occasionally visible from the East Pond vent in the crater of Pu`u ``O`o, much less than is typical of the crater. On Sunday afternoon, HVO observers noted many rockfalls from the south wall of Pu`u `O`o cone and collapse of the crater floor around the vents. The lava level in East Pond vent dropped several meters in late morning.

All data indicate that an intrusion of magma started in the Mauna Ulu area early Sunday morning and moved slowly 5 km (3 miles) east along the rift zone during the day. The intrusion is continuing at this time.

Source: USGS volcano

I would say that based on what they're saying in the Advertiser it's Pu'u O'o shifting around because the flow isn't being replenished like it used to be.

Good morning Zap, are you familiar with this site?

hisz.rsoe.hu...

I screwed up at some point unbeknownst to me how and now it is not in english for me anymore, if you figure out how to switch it back let me know please. I have used enough to be able to understand it even without english but it is much better when you can read about the events. I will await your response. also just scroll down for the info on the quakes. It is an awsome site and it gives you the current events before even the media gets hold of things like toxic spills or major accidents and plane crashes. Very cool one for your favorites.

Huh what do you know its back in english now. You can access it in most languages. Also after you click on the map icons, you can do the discription of the event. I saw a few more interesting things on there just now like several out breaks around the world, in S. Dakota cats are coming down with a deadly virus called tumeria, it is similar to lyme disease. You can scroll around the world and ck out whats going on all over.

Antar, when you enter the website´s main address

RSOE

Look above, at the right end of the site. (above the map) You will see 2 options,
Magyar and English

Just click on English to see the English version.

Oh thankyou very much! what did you think of the site?

Originally posted by antar
Oh thankyou very much! what did you think of the site?

Excellent and recommended website

It is one of my favourites

Strangly enough, it seems that the swarms´activity has decreased.

According to USGS the last quake took place at 13:06:05 (UTC).

Location 19.845°N, 156.336°W
Depth 12.8 km (8.0 miles)
Region HAWAII REGION, HAWAII
Distances 37 km (23 miles) WNW (291°) from Kalaoa, HI

Yesterday, quakes were every minute. Not today.

It's probably found or created another lava tube, and exit to get around the Pu'u O'o blockage, and it's settling down now. It doesn't take long for it to shift when it's that active. There are actually several vents that are/have been erupting from Kilauea.

Thank you for your answers.

Zaphod58, that would be a great news. I hope they can reopen the Park and that all calms down again.