Kaʻū News Briefs, Sunday, April 23, 2023

DID LAVA FLOW OUT OF MAUNA LOA'S SOUTHERN CALDERA IN late November of 2022? That is the question posed by this week's Volcano Watch, written by USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists and affiliates:
    Official statements from the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory noted that initial vents were within the caldera; however, lava flows were reported visible from Kona. Indeed, Kona residents could see lava flows descending the western flank of the volcano and were concerned, feeling that lava was outside of the caldera. In hindsight, it seems appropriate to explain what HVO knew in the first few minutes of the eruption and why Kona residents were able to see the first lava flows.
    Most people are familiar with Mokuʻāweoweo - the inner caldera at Mauna Loa. However, there's also an outer caldera, which is a geologic term indicating that less obvious mapped faults designate a much larger caldera feature than Mokuʻāweoweo.

Map of the Mauna Loa 2022 eruptive fissures, shown as red lines. Red shaded area indicates lava flows produced during the eruption, around fissure vent areas. Solid white line indicates mapped outer caldera boundary. White dotted line indicates inferred outer caldera boundaryburied by historic Mauna Loa lava flows. Fissures documented by C. Parcheta at USGS. Lava flow polygons by USGS National Civil Applications Center.

    Official statements from the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory  noted that initial vents were within the caldera; however, lava flows were reported visible from Kona. Indeed, Kona residents could see lava flows descending the western flank of the volcano and were concerned, feeling that lava was outside of the caldera. In hindsight, it seems appropriate to explain what HVO knew in the first few minutes of the eruption and why Kona residents were able to see the first lava flows.
    Most people are familiar with Mokuʻāweoweo--the inner caldera at Mauna Loa. However, there's also an outer caldera, which is a geologic term indicating that less obvious mapped faults designate a much larger caldera feature than Mokuʻāweoweo.    

    This is also true at Kīlauea. For example, most people think of the Kaluapele as the “giant crater” that

Lava, smoke and light seen from Kona where residents saw the flow in late November descending the western flank of Mauna Loa. Photo from PBS

Crater Rim Drive mostly encircles, but the outer caldera boundary of Kīlauea caldera extends north to the opposite side of Highway 11. When one drives past the entrance to Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, they are driving within the outer caldera of Kīlauea!
    Mauna Loa’s southern outer caldera is buried under lava flows from the past centuries (see white dashed line on map). Three distinctive pit craters dominate this area from north to south: South Pit in Mokuʻāweoweo, Luahohonu, and Luahou. These pit craters are within the outer caldera, and not part of the Southwest Rift Zone. 

    The western rim of the outer caldera coincides with the inner caldera—we have not found circumferential faults to the west. The white line on map indicates the northern, eastern, and southeastern portions of the outer caldera. The approximate boundary between the caldera and the SWRZ is where these circumferential cracks cross the rift zone. Fissures that cross these circumferential cracks would indicate that the eruption is migrating into a rift zone. Sometimes fissures run right up to the outer caldera boundary and then head in the opposite direction (as during eruptions in 1935, 1942, and 1984).
    This is an important concept because HVO stated that initial 2022 fissures were restricted to the summit area. Yet, overnight photographs from Kona showed lava flows descending the western slope—so how was this possible? Shouldn’t the lava be hidden from view by the western topographic edge of the caldera?
    HVO's use of the phrase “summit region” may have caused confusion for some Kona residents who thought HVO was referring to the “inner caldera.” The flows seen from Kona were coming from 3 km (1.8 miles) of fissures in the south outer caldera. When lava is erupting from this area it is visible because there are no major caldera walls obscuring the view of the western flank.
    Later mapping revealed that 2 km (1.2 mi) of fissures extended from the outer caldera into the uppermost extent of the SWRZ, with minor lava being emitted from those fissures. In total, the 2022 eruption of Mauna Loa saw 8 km (5 mi) of fissures open across the central and southern outer caldera floor during the night of November 27–28.
    By the first eruption overflight at dawn on November 28, all fissures in the inner caldera, southern outer caldera, and the uppermost SWRZ had stopped erupting and were incandescent glowing cracks. A new set of fissures had begun to form on the Northeast Rift Zone (NERZ). The three lowest elevation fissures were erupting during the initial overflight and named fissure 1–3. Fissure 4 opened two days later, on November 29, 2022.

    In total, 17 km (11 mi.) of fissures spanned the uppermost SWRZ, the southern and central outer caldera, and the NERZ during the 2022 eruption of Mauna Loa.

Geologist from the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory selects a sampling site on the floor of Halema‘uma‘u crater Friday morning, April 21, standing near the eastern rim of the lava lake that was active in the western portion of Halema‘uma‘u crater during the January–March, 2023 eruption. The mound next to the geologist is a spatter rampart; spatter ramparts form when bits of molten lava travel through the air and accumulate on the ground surface, forminga mound-like feature. USGS image by L. Gallant

TWO CREWS OF HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY GEOLOGISTS VISITED KILAUEA CALDERA on Friday morning, April 21, airlifted by helicopter to collect detailed data to assess hazards and to better understand the workings of the volcano. One crew visited the crater floor to sample cooled lava from the 2020–2023 summit eruptions. The other crew scaled part of the crater's northwest wall to sample ash beds and lava flows dating back many thousands of years in the volcano's past.
    Information they gathered is shared with the National Park Service and emergency managers. Access to this hazardous area is by permission from, and in coordination with, Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. The volcano was not erupting.
    Three of the orange-clad geologists collected tephra samples from the Uēkahuna bluff along the northern wall of Kīlauea's summit caldera. Kīlauea has a history of explosive eruptions—the evidence for these events is contained within the many layers exposed along this part of the volcano.
    Although the volcano was not erupting, a wispy plume was seen rising from the crater floor. Kīlauea summit sulfur dioxide (SO2) emission rates remain low and were most recently measured on April 14 at 110 tonnes per day.