Kilauea magma mystery intrigues area scientists

HILO » Kilauea Volcano remains quiet following last week's brief eruption, and scientists at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory are excited about that.

"HVO staff members are pretty jazzed right now about what's happening at Kilauea," they wrote in their weekly Volcano Watch column.

By that, they mean the pause is giving them time to think. And their thoughts are on magma. "Magma, magma, who's got the magma?" the column asks.

Earthquake swarms started several miles east of the summit June 17, lava erupted in an unusual location June 19, and then a lot of sulfur dioxide gas came to the surface as other activity slowed down.

The series of events indicated magma coming from deep in the earth, then shunting east to the eruption.

"One mystery right now, though, is the disparity between how much magma we believe is still entering the volcano from the mantle, and the fact that no new lava and very little gas has been erupted at the surface for over a week," they wrote.

Every day, enough magma rises to fill 100 to 200 Olympic-sized swimming pools, they said. That gave rise to a new, unofficial science yardstick, the "OSP."

"So if magma is still being supplied at a rate of 100 OSPs per day, where is it going, and what might happen next?" they asked.

Gas scientist Jeff Sutton explained that the magma created a new underground route for itself last week, a process called an intrusion. The result was a brief eruption above ground and a new, armlike dike underground.

How much magma remains in the dike, how much went into the normal rift between the summit and Pu'u O'o, and how much is in the storage area under the summit remain uncertain, he said.

As to where it will go next, "Time will tell," the scientists said.