Legacy and future of Kilauea's geodetic studies
Abstract
Because of its extensive and detailed history of geodetic measurements, Kilauea is one of the best-studied if not also best-understood volcanic systems in the world. Hawaiian volcanoes have a long history of deformation observations. These observations range from native legends of Pele's underground travels, through initial measurements made by the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, and finally to current ground-based and satellite observations. Many questions still remain, relating to Kilauea's dynamics, where geodetic measurements could offer fundamental insights. For example, new geodetic experiments could lead to a better understanding of the degree of magmatic and tectonic interaction, the geometries of faults at depth, the extent of offshore deformation, and the magmatic plumbing system. While it is possible to design many experiments to address these issues, we focus on three deformation targets where geodetic improvements, including finer sampling in space and time, could yield significant advancements toward understanding Kilauea's dynamics. First, by scrutinizing spatially-dense space-borne geodetic data for signs of upper east rift zone deformation and incorporating gravity and seismic data in a high resolution tomographic model, the hydraulic connection between Kilauea's summit and the rift zone could be imaged, which would provide insight into the pathways that transport magma out to the rift zones. Second, a combination of geodetic and seismic data could be used to determine the nature of possible relationships and interactions between the Hilina fault system and Kilauea's basal decollement. Such a study would have important implications for assessments of future earthquake and sector collapse hazards. Lastly, by adding seafloor geodetic measurements and seismic data to the current geodetic network on Kilauea, we could delimit the offshore extent of transient and episodic decollement deformation. In addition to multidisciplinary approaches, future geodetic studies on Kilauea would also benefit from including more realistic physical properties in models, and exploring new methods of observation and analytical techniques.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2011
- Bibcode:
- 2011AGUFM.V34A..08M
- Keywords:
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- 1200 GEODESY AND GRAVITY;
- 8400 VOLCANOLOGY