Volcano watch: Water was in the Kilauea caldera before the collapse of the 2018 summit

On July 4, 2018, an observer at the Volcano House Hotel was watching the developing collapse of the Halema’uma’u Crater Basin, 4 km (2.5 mi) away. Suddenly, he did a double action, his eyes flashing several times, but he couldn’t erase the dark line that came down from the Kilauea caldera wall above Halema’uma’u. Not knowing what it is, he called it “black line”.

Two ideas came to mind for this strange feature. One of them was that the streak was a fresh rock scar cutting across the gray, dusty slope. The other is that the line is made of water that washed dust.

Over the next few days, the black streak came and went. Finally, observations showed that the streak remained black at a time when a lot of dust was rising from the papilla. This was positive evidence that it was made with water and not from rocks.

Water flowed from a point 10-20 m (yards) below the rim of the caldera, elevated above the groundwater surface that today feeds the deep lake described in the previous two hours of the volcano. This point is located within the currently closed SW Rift National Park (indicating the upper extent of the Southwest Rift Zone at Kilauea), below which are several vertical dams of solid magma. How can the water be so high in this area?

We add two and two together. During exceptionally heavy rainfall, the river flows for an hour or so across the Earth’s surface between the southern tip of the Uekahuna Bluff and the SW Rift, at a distance of 600-800 meters (yards). The gushing river, which we called the Kilauea River, is several meters wide and a few centimeters deep. Notably, the flowing river always ends before reaching SW Rift, and sinks into alluvial sand. Where does the water go? Could this be the water that forms the black line?

Yes, we think so. Farther from where it hides, the river’s water will likely flow underground but are surrounded by embankments under the SW Rift, forming a shallow aquifer. The collapse of the caldera wall during the collapse of the 2018 summit opened a path for this stored water to exit the aquifer and flow into the caldera.

The black streak, called the water chain, has appeared intermittently in the past two years. In fact, two pairs of these ephemeral chains may be lining the same area. Any photos of black font that any reader has taken since 2018 would be highly appreciated. Recent images show a cavity in the head of a single cascade, either a lava tube or a filtered magma channel. Volcanic ash was washed out of the cavity and formed a precipitate next to the chain.

The perched body of water responsible for the waterfall is one of two such bodies that existed before 2018. The other formed a small, warm pool in the floor of the caldera 500 meters (yards) north of Halema’uma’u before it swelled in 2018. Lush vegetation surrounded Pond, and microorganisms lived in the water.

The small pond was drained as the Halima area enlarged in 2018, although its distinctive location with plants remains. As the crater expanded in June and July, an overall white plume of steam rose above the northwestern portion of the crater, contrasting with the dusty brown clouds that engulfed most of the crater. The plume may have been caused by boiling water in the same shallow aquifer that supported the pond.

Could other unseen shallow water bodies exist under the caldera floor? Rain falls more on the northern part of the caldera than on the south. Many of the caves below the bottom of the northern caldera emit steam and are very hot, as the caves testify. The heat most likely came from frozen pyroclastic flows and active lakes in this region in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the precipitation was heated to steam. Steam continues even in dry weather. Does this indicate a deeper water body? Probably not, but we can’t be sure.

No doubt any perching body of water would be pale in importance when compared to the more extensive aquifer that supports the present lake. These objects will be smaller and higher (further from magma) than the main reservoir. However, we would be remiss if we did not take into account that even shallow waters could contribute to the explosive hazards at Kilauea summit.

Volcano activity updates

Kilauea volcano does not erupt. The USGS Volcano alert level remains at NORMAL (https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/vhp/about_alerts.html). Kilauea updates are released monthly.

Kilauea monitoring data for last month shows variable but typical rates of earthquakes and ground deformation, low rates of sulfur dioxide emissions, and only minor geological changes since the end of volcanic activity in September 2018. The lake of water at the bottom of Halema’uma continues to expand and deepen slowly. For the most recent information on the lake, see https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/Kilauea/summit_water_resources.html.

Mauna Loa does not erupt and is still at Volcano Alert Level. This alert level does not imply that an eruption is imminent or that progression to an outbreak from the current level of disturbance is certain. Mauna Loa updates are released weekly.

Last week, about 164 small-scale earthquakes were recorded under the upper elevations of Mauna Loa; Most of these occurred at shallow depths of less than 8 km (about 5 miles). GPS measurements show the summit’s slowly increasing magnification over the long term, consistent with the magma supply of the volcano’s shallow storage system. The gas concentrations and fumarole temperatures as measured at both the sulfur cone and the summit remain stable. Web cameras do not show any changes to the landscape. For more information on the current monitoring of Mauna Loa volcano, see: https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/mauna_loa/monitoring_summary.html.

There have been two events with 3 or more hairy reports in the Hawaiian Islands over the past week: a M1.9 earthquake 5 km (3 mi) WSW from Kailua Kona at a depth of 11 km (7 mi) on August 10 at 10:28 a.m. HST and an earthquake M2.8 at 3 km (2 mi) ENE from Leilani Estates at a depth of 6 km (4 mi) on Aug 6 at 11:06 AM HST.

HVO continues to closely monitor Kilauea and Mauna Loa.

Please visit the HVO website to see past Volcano Watch articles, previous Volcano Watch articles, Kilauea and Mauna Loa updates, volcano photos, maps, recent earthquake information, and more. Questions emailed to [email protected].

Volcano Watch is a weekly article and activity update written by the scientists and affiliates of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory of the US Geological Survey.

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