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18 Jun 07 - A swarm of more than 260 small earthquakes rattled the Upper
East Rift Zone of Kilauea Volcano beginning at 2:15 a.m. yesterday,
shaking nearby residents throughout the day.
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Lava from Kilauea
volcano in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
enters the Pacific Ocean. Scientists say a buildup of
magma
from the volcano is triggering a huge number of small quakes. |
Geologists said a buildup of magma below ground is creating the quakes. One possibility was the formation of new eruption vents at the volcano,
which has been spewing lava continuously for 24 years. In the past,
there have been similar swarms of little earthquakes but none that
lasted so long.
Most of the earthquakes have stayed about 1.5 to 3 kilometers below
the surface, and geologists don't think the magma will rise towards the
surface.
At one point yesterday morning, one earthquake was occurring every
minute. Most of the earthquakes remained under a magnitude of 3. The
biggest earthquake measured at 4.0.
Rivers of lava pouring into the seas at 2,150 degrees
- 10
times the boiling point - and we wonder why the
world's oceans are warming?
http://starbulletin.com/2007/06/18/news/story01.html
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