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Kilauea Region Has 100 Quakes: Tremors Started on Saturday and Are Still Going On


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POSTED: Sunday, May 30, 2010

HILO, Hawaii, May 30 >>  More than 100 earthquakes have shaken the Kilauea district since Saturday morning and are continuing today, although decreasing in number and intensity.

Harmonic tremor, which always accompanies an outbreak of lava, started recording at the observatory at 6:03 a.m. Saturday and continued with intermittent quakes until 3 p.m. Saturday.

At midnight Sunday harmonic tremor again began recording, indicating underground lava movements.

So many cracks appeared in the Chain of Craters road that the highway has been closed. One large section of the road has caved in.

Pauahi Crater Slides

Much sliding has been reported from Pauahi crater, which is believed to be the center of the disturbance.

In addition to the road cracks, a section of the road near the Devil's Throat has risen several inches.

The cracks appeared in the Chain of Craters road Saturday afternoon, following a series of daylong quakes of Kilauea origin.

The cracks extended from near the Devil's Throat to the end of the Chain of Craters road, some of them being more than a mile long and several inches wide.

Largest Near Pauahi

The largest opening is near Pauahi crater, where the road has risen and cracked entirely across with a portion of the road on the side caved in. Ten large cracks the width of the road and several inches wide occurred in the vicinity.