HR: 1340h
AN: V53B-1544    [Abstracts]
TI: Complex Eruption Dynamics in a Hawaiian Explosive Eruption: Kilauea Iki 1959
AU: * Stovall, W K
EM: wstovall@hawaii.edu
AF: Geology and Geophysics, University of Hawaii, 1680 East-West Road, Honolulu, HI 96822 United States
AU: Houghton, B F
EM: bhough@soest.hawaii.edu
AF: Geology and Geophysics, University of Hawaii, 1680 East-West Road, Honolulu, HI 96822 United States
AU: Kawata, J
EM: jkawata@hawaii.edu
AF: Geology and Geophysics, University of Hawaii, 1680 East-West Road, Honolulu, HI 96822 United States
AU: Swanson, D
EM: donswan@usgs.gov
AF: U.S. Geological Survey, Hawaii Volcano Observatory, Crater Rim Road, Volcano, HI 96785 United States
AB: The 1959 eruption of Kilauea Iki volcano is an outstanding example of Hawaiian volcanism in which high fountaining of ejecta reached elevations as great as 580m. A total of 17 fire fountaining episodes over 37 days built a steep sided cone and deposited a tephra blanket extending over 15 km down wind from the cone. The unusual geometry of the 1959 vent, located on the side of a steep-walled pre-existing collapse crater, lead to ponding and the formation of a lava lake. The eruption shows a complex interplay between lava lake and cone. Lava ponded in the lake strongly influencing the close of explosive episodes and cone failures fed back to change the position of the vent and the geometry of the lake. The durations and intensities of each of the 17 phases of explosive activity vary markedly over two orders of magnitude. We interpret this diversity in the context of contrasting inputs from (1) the melt recycled from the newly formed lava lake and (2) freshly arrived and volatile-rich melt ascending through the shallow summit reservoir. The resulting ejecta includes two types of clasts reflecting these two melt types: (1) achneliths, which are black fluidal scoria that contains a wide range of bubble sizes and (2) ragged, highly micro-vesicular golden pumice/reticulite.
DE: 8414 Eruption mechanisms and flow emplacement
DE: 8425 Effusive volcanism
DE: 8428 Explosive volcanism
DE: 8486 Field relationships (1090, 3690)
SC: Volcanology, Geochemistry, Petrology [V]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005