For more information on recent earthquakes in Hawaii and eruption updates, visit the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory website at http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov.
Staff and wire reports
Hawaiian Volcano Observatory has recorded more than 100 earthquakes in an ongoing swarm that began around 1:17 a.m. on Wednesday.
The earthquakes are located about three miles north-northwest of Kilauea volcano’s summit, near Namakanipaio in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, at depths of 1-3 miles.
The largest earthquakes of the ongoing swarm have been a magnitude-4.1 quake at 9:02 p.m. Thursday night and a magnitude-4.3 quake at 3:52 a.m. Friday morning. These earthquakes were widely felt on the Island of Hawaii.
The effects of the early Friday morning temblor caused a few books and other items to fall off shelves and dislodged some small ceiling fixtures at HVO. Several residents of nearby Volcano Golf Course subdivision also repotred minor damage, such as items falling from shelves.
As of Friday morning, the seismic swarm has also included three earthquakes with magnitudes between 3.0 and 3.9, and 25 earthquakes with magnitudes of 2.0 to 2.9. The magnitudes of another 88 located earthquakes are between 1.0 and 1.9.
The earthquakes are located in the Kaoiki Fault Zone, where similar earthquake swarms occurred in 1990, 1993, 1997 and 2006, all without an eruption. Some of these swarms were stronger than the current one, HVO Geologist Janet Babb said.
According to Jim Kauahikaua, HVO’s scientist-in-charge, it’s likely that high rates of seismicity could continue in this area for several days. He added that the earthquake swarm has not caused any obvious changes in Kilauea’s ongoing eruptions, but that the magnitude-4.3 earthquake did cause a small rockfall in the active vent located within Halema’uma’u Crater at the summit of Kilauea.
For more information on recent earthquakes in Hawaii and eruption updates, visit the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory website at http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov.