Kilauea East Rift Zone Magmatism: an Episode 54 Perspective

Abstract

On January 29±30, 1997, prolonged steady-state effusion of lava from Pu'u'O'o was briefly disrupted by shallow extension beneath Napau Crater, 1±4 km uprift of the active Kilauea vent. A 23-h-long eruption (episode 54) ensued from fissures that were overlapping or en echelon with eruptive fissures formed during episode 1 in 1983 and those of earlier rift zone eruptions in 1963 and 1968. Combined geophysical and petrologic data for the 1994±1999 eruptive interval, including episode 54, reveal a variety of shallow magmatic conditions that persist in association with prolonged rift zone eruption. Near-vent lava samples document a significant range in composition, temperature and crystallinity of pre-eruptive magma. As supported by phenocryst±liquid relations and Kilauea mineral thermometers established herein, the rift zone extension that led to episode 54 resulted in mixture of near-cotectic magma with discrete magma bodies cooled to 1100 C. Mixing models indicate that magmas isolated beneath Napau Crater since 1963 and 1968 constituted 32±65% of the hybrid mixtures erupted during episode 54. Geophysical measurements support passive displacement of open-system magma along the active east rift conduit into closed-system rift-reservoirs along a shallow zone of extension. Geophysical and petrologic data for early episode 55 document the gradual flushing of episode 54 related magma during magmatic recharge of the edifice.