Reticulite‐producing fountains from ring fractures in Kīlauea Caldera ca. 1500 CE

Geophysical Monograph -16
By: , and 
Edited by: Rebecca CareyValérie CayolMichael P. Poland, and Dominique Weis

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Abstract

A widely dispersed reticulite bed occurs close to the base of the Keanakākoʻi Tephra at Kīlauea Volcano. It can be divided into six subunits in the northern sector of the volcano; the reticulite also occurs in the southern sector, but outcrops are sparse owing to penecontemporaneous erosion and burial. Multilobate isopachs for each subunit and the total deposit suggest that multiple fountaining vents were distributed in the northern half of the caldera, possibly along ring fractures for the newly formed caldera. Isopach maps also show a sharp decline in thickness along the dispersal axis of each lobe, which could be explained by remobilization of tephra and/or inclined fountains. Despite such isopach characteristics, thinning rates calculated from the isopach data indicate that the fountains were among the most intense and powerful of all studied Kīlauea fountains. Density analyses of the pyroclasts suggest that fountaining was high (>600m) yet complex, possibly due to lava ponding and reentrainment. The calculated volume of the reticulite deposited around the caldera rim is approximately 0.2km3, more voluminous than the deposits of the 1959 Kīlauea Iki eruption; this volume is a minimum, however, as the low-density tephra is easily remobilized, and 600m high caldera walls probably trapped tephra within the caldera, which is deeply buried today and not accounted for in the volume calculations. The duration of this eruption was most likely at least a few days to weeks, based on the calculated volume and estimated discharge rates as seen during the Kīlauea Iki 1959 eruption.

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Publication type Book chapter
Publication Subtype Book Chapter
Title Reticulite‐producing fountains from ring fractures in Kīlauea Caldera ca. 1500 CE
Series title Geophysical Monograph
Chapter 16
DOI 10.1002/9781118872079.ch16
Volume 208
Year Published 2015
Language English
Publisher American Geophysical Union; John Wiley & Sons
Publisher location Washington, D.C.
Contributing office(s) Volcano Science Center
Description 17 p.
Larger Work Type Book
Larger Work Subtype Conference publication
Larger Work Title Hawaiian volcanoes: From source to surface
First page 351
Last page 367
Conference Title AGU Chapman Conference
Conference Location Waikoloa, Hawai'i
Conference Date August 20-24, 2012
Country United States
State Hawaii
Other Geospatial Kīlauea Caldera
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