HR: 1340h
AN: V53A-1131    [Abstracts]
TI: The Fathers Day Eruption of Kilauea, Volcano, Hawaii: a gas Emissions Perspective
AU: * Sutton, A
EM: ajsutton@usgs.gov
AF: USGS-HVO, POB 51, Hawaii Nat. Park, HI 96718, United States
AU: Elias, T
EM: telias@usgs.gov
AF: USGS-HVO, POB 51, Hawaii Nat. Park, HI 96718, United States
AB: Gas release events from Kilauea's summit magma reservoir and East Rift Zone (ERZ) before and during the June 17, 2007 Fathers Day eruptive sequence provide evidence of correlated summit and rift processes and illustrate how perturbations in magma supply from depth can disrupt steady processes at the surface. Changes in summit CO2 emission rates are thought to reflect changes in deep magma supply and the movement of magma into the rift zone. During the several years preceding the Fathers Day activity, Kilauea had undergone a surge of magma supply and effusive output, as evidenced by gas release and cross-caldera extension. In 2004, the CO2 emission rate, which had been quasi-steady, below 10,000 tonnes/day for the preceeding eight years, began to increase. By mid-2004 the rate had doubled, and by 2005, had tripled, reaching nearly 30,000 t/d. The peak and subsequent decline in summit CO2 attended a similar pattern in east rift SO2 emissions, which are used at Kilauea as one proxy for effusion rate. The surge in magma supply and lava effusion rate may have unsettled Kilauea's plumbing enough to set the stage for the subsequent Fathers Day intrusive and eruptive activity. As magma was withdrawn from the summit reservoir on 17 June 2007, forming the dike that intruded the Upper East Rift Zone, overburden pressure in the reservoir decreased allowing dissolved gases to exsolve and escape from the melt. The more soluble SO2, would be more affected by this pressure change than CO2, which exsolves at much greater depth. Summit SO2 emissions increased nearly four-fold as the summit deflated and summit and Upper East Rift tremor spiked. Increased ambient gas concentrations downwind of Halema`uma`u Crater resulted from the sharp increase in SO2 emission rates and caused the national park to close Crater Rim Drive in this area for several days. The Fathers Day intrusion, subsequent collapses at Pu`u `O`o, and the brief eruption at Kane Nui O Hamo (KNH) profoundly changed ERZ gases as well. SO2 emissions declined dramatically from Pu`u `O`o, dropping below 100 t/d by early July and remained low for several weeks even after lava reappeared in Pu`u `O`o. This overall decline in east rift gas release is reasonably consistent with the observed eruptive events: the dike likely robbed the magma supply but produced only the scanty KNH eruption, and the thinness of the dike geometry proved a poor conduit for SO2 release from depth. The beginning of the 21 July fissure activity reflected a return of magma and significant gas release to the Pu`u `O`o area as pressure within the shallow vent system exceeded structural integrity of the edifice. Following a brief increase in SO2 emissions at the onset of fissure activity, values declined, while effusion remained high. The low level of SO2 release, which persisted for the first several weeks of this fissure activity possibly reflected displacement of old rift-stored magma with newer magma coming from the summit and passing beneath the Pu`u `O`o system. Beginning 12 August, Pu`u `O`o re-emerged as Kilauea's primary SO2 degassing source, even though all extrusion as of this writing is occurring from the fissure system east of the cone. Currently, Kilauea appears to be following a pattern similar to that of the 1986-1991 Kupaianaha era, wherein most SO2 release was from Pu`u `O`o while active extrusion occurred down rift.
DE: 8419 Volcano monitoring (7280)
DE: 8430 Volcanic gases
DE: 8439 Physics and chemistry of magma bodies
DE: 8488 Volcanic hazards and risks
SC: Volcanology, Geochemistry, Petrology [V]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting