Editors’ Highlights are summaries of recent papers by AGU’s journal editors.
Source: Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth
Kīlauea, along the southeastern shore of Hawaii Island, is one of the most active shield volcanoes in the world. The complexity and interactions between Kīlauea and its active neighbor, Mauna Loa, have resulted in a wide range of magmatic and seismic activity, including large earthquakes, tsunamis, and slow slips. For the past 20 years or so a consistent southward displacement of about 6 centimeters per year has been observed along Kīlauea’s south flank.
Yong et al. [2024] explore the deformation and stress changes of Kīlauea’s décollement from 1898 to 2018 by collating an unprecedented ~120 years of geodetic data. In particular, the period before the 1975 magnitude (Mw) 7.7 Kalapana earthquake is resolved using multiple techniques, such as triangulation, electronic distance measurement and leveling. The authors use observations from multiple deformation sources, in particular prior to the 1975 Kalapana earthquake, when several magma chambers and faults were activated. This unprecedented geodetic collation is then compared with a seismicity catalog also covering an unusually long period, from 1933 to 2018. These long geodetic and seismologic observations on Kīlauea’s volcano are crucial to improve our understanding of the complex relationship between magmatic and earthquake cycle processes.
Citation: Yong, L. W., Foster, J. H., Smith-Konter, B. R., & Frazer, L. N. (2024). A century of deformation and stress change on Kīlauea’s décollement. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 129, e2024JB028714. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024JB028714
—Alexandre Schubnel, Editor-in-Chief, JGR: Solid Earth