Volcano Watch: Kilauea activity update for week of Aug. 11, 2011

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This movie shows views from an overflight of the vents on the lower west flank of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Monday (Aug 8). There are several vents, topped by spatter cones, that are feeding narrow, fast-moving flows that feed into a broad area of ponded lava.

(Activity updates are written by scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.)

This view, looking east, shows the broad area of ponded lava fed by two main channels originating from several individual vents. The fume-filled crater of Pu‘u ‘Ō ‘ō is in the background. The darker lava in the foreground, at the bottom of the image, is from the March 2011 Kamoamoa eruption. Photo courtesy of HVO/USGS

This view, looking east, shows the broad area of ponded lava fed by two main channels originating from several individual vents. The fume-filled crater of Pu‘u ‘Ō ‘ō is in the background. The darker lava in the foreground, at the bottom of the image, is from the March 2011 Kamoamoa eruption. Photo courtesy of HVO/USGS

On August 3, just after 2:00 p.m., HST, the floor of Pu`u `O`o collapsed and lava began erupting from new vents on the west flank of Pu`u `O`o cone, sending flows towards the north and south of the cone. Since that time, lava has continued to erupt from these west-flank vents, but the active lava has retreated closer to the vent area and is largely contained within a perched lava pond. A very small amount of lava has returned to the collapsed floor of Pu`u `O`o over the past week.

Since the new Pu`u `O`o vents opened on August 3, the lava lake within the Halema`uma`u Overlook vent has dropped substantially over the past week as the summit deflated. As of Thursday, August 11, the Halema`uma`u lava lake was small, sluggish, and deep within the vent cavity.

Three earthquakes beneath Hawai`i Island were reported felt this past week. A magnitude-1.85 earthquake occurred at 8:59 a.m., HST, on Friday, August 5, 2011, and was located 1 km (1 mi) northeast of ‘Opihikao at a depth of 3 km (2 mi). A magnitude-2.1 earthquake occurred at 10:24 a.m. on the same day and was located 3 km (2 mi) southeast of Pahoa at a depth of 1 km (1 mi). A magnitude-2.2 earthquake occurred at 1:58 p.m. on Monday, August 8, and was located 5 km (3 mi) southeast of Kapoho at a depth of 3 km (2 mi).
Visit the HVO Web site (http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov) for detailed Kilauea and Mauna Loa activity updates, recent volcano photos, recent earthquakes, and more; call (808) 967-8862 for a Kilauea summary; email questions to askHVO@usgs.gov

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