4.1 quake recorded near Kalapana

The U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) recorded a magnitude-4.1 earthquake located beneath Kilauea Volcano’s south flank on Friday at 9:23 a.m. According to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, there is no tsunami threat from this earthquake.

The earthquake, which was widely felt on the Island of Hawaii, was located about 4.8 miles west of Kalapana and 4.7 miles southeast of the Puʻu ʻOʻo crater, at a depth of 5.1 miles. A map showing the location of the earthquake is posted on HVO’s website at http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/seismic/volcweb/earthquakes/.

The USGS “Did you feel it?” website received 156 felt reports within the first hour of the earthquake. The maximum intensity of shaking reported by Hawaii Island residents was IV on the Mercalli Intensity Scale, indicating light shaking.

There have been no aftershocks following the earthquake.

Kilauea’s south flank has been the site of 28 earthquakes of magnitude-4.0 or greater during the past 25 years. Most are caused by abrupt motion of the volcano’s south flank, which moves to the southeast over the oceanic crust as a result of magma being injected into the East Rift Zone. The location, depth, and waveforms recorded as part of today’s earthquake are all consistent with slip along this south flank fault.

According to HVO Scientist-in-Charge Christina Neal, the earthquake had no apparent effect on Kilauea Volcano’s ongoing eruptions.

“HVO monitoring networks have not detected any significant changes in activity at the summit or along the rift zones of Kilauea or at other Hawaiian volcanoes resulting from the earthquake,” she said.

HVO geologists working near the Puʻu ʻOʻo cone this morning reported feeling the earthquake, but noted no change in the eruption.

For more information on recent earthquakes in Hawaii and eruption updates, visit the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory website at hvo.wr.usgs.gov.