08-20-2007, 05:30 AM
Interesting article in today's Honolulu Advertiser.
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/p...020/NEWS10
... A nearly 44-acre lava bench in Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park collapsed into the ocean last week, scientists reported...
...Okubo said that the best guess is that the quakes represent the continued movement of the entire southern portion of Kilauea's East Rift Zone seaward — and away from the rest of the island.
The south flank is moving relatively constantly seaward at a rate of about 2.4 inches a year. Occasionally it speeds up, as it did during the period after the June 17 episode, which saw significant earth cracking, some eruptive activity and a great deal of molten rock being forced into the east rift zone.
The magma intrusions may be acting like a giant wedge, forcing the island apart along a rift zone. The immense mass of Mauna Loa to the north doesn't move, so the relatively smaller slope of Kilauea's south flank does. One way to think of it is that the tapering slope of the volcano is sliding across the ocean floor, and when it catches and jerks, an earthquake is produced...
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/p...020/NEWS10
... A nearly 44-acre lava bench in Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park collapsed into the ocean last week, scientists reported...
...Okubo said that the best guess is that the quakes represent the continued movement of the entire southern portion of Kilauea's East Rift Zone seaward — and away from the rest of the island.
The south flank is moving relatively constantly seaward at a rate of about 2.4 inches a year. Occasionally it speeds up, as it did during the period after the June 17 episode, which saw significant earth cracking, some eruptive activity and a great deal of molten rock being forced into the east rift zone.
The magma intrusions may be acting like a giant wedge, forcing the island apart along a rift zone. The immense mass of Mauna Loa to the north doesn't move, so the relatively smaller slope of Kilauea's south flank does. One way to think of it is that the tapering slope of the volcano is sliding across the ocean floor, and when it catches and jerks, an earthquake is produced...
Steve & Regina
Hawaiian Acres / North Lake Tahoe
'If you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there' - George Harrison
Hawaiian Acres / North Lake Tahoe
'If you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there' - George Harrison