A team of scientists led by the University of Hawaii at Hilo Geology Department has its most recent research on the 2018 Kilauea eruption featured in the Dec. 6 issue of the journal Science.
Cheryl Gansecki, UH-Hilo geology affiliate faculty, is lead author on “The tangled tale of Kilauea’s 2018 eruption as told by geochemical monitoring,” which examines changes in lava chemistry that reflect its magma history and can affect eruptive behavior, but are normally not studied until after an eruption is finished. Co-authors include Steven Lundblad and Ken Hon from UH-Hilo, R. Lopaka Lee and Carolyn Parcheta from the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and Thomas Shea from UH-Manoa.
“We used rapid energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence analysis to measure diagnostic elements in lava samples within a few hours of collection during the 2018 Kilauea eruption,” explained Gansecki. “The geochemical data can give us lava temperature, which affects viscosity and therefore how fast lava can flow. We were able to notify the monitoring teams of changing lava temperatures in advance of changing hazards during the eruption.
“We also identified, in near-real time, interactions between older, colder, stored magma leftover from previous East Rift Zone eruptions and hotter magma delivered during dike emplacement.”
The study suggests at least two bodies of stored magma were forced to the surface, including the first known eruption of an andesite on Kilauea, and that magma from these bodies mixed with the newer intruding magma. By analyzing the composition of crystals carried in the magma, the researchers also were able to identify the presence of a much hotter component that had to come from deep in the summit magma or rift system.
“Our team has been working for years on ways to get this information available in near-real time, so it was very exciting to have it used successfully during a volcanic crisis,” Gansecki said.
In May 2019, Gansecki and Lundblad were awarded the 2019 Koichi and Taniyo Taniguchi Award for Excellence and Innovation at UH-Hilo for their work developing and implementing the rapid analysis protocol.
Two other 2018 eruption articles in the Dec. 6 issue include “Cyclic effusion during the 2018 eruption of Kilauea Volcano” by lead author HVO geologist Matt Patrick and colleagues and “Magma Reservoir Failure and the Onset of Caldera Collapse at Kilauea Volcano in 2018” by lead author Kyle Anderson and colleagues.