Dispatches from Volcano: Kīlauea Update, Monday, June 4, 2018, morning, pohō Kapoho

pohō kapoho

malalo iho pele

haliʻa aloha

lost is kapoho

under blanket of pele

cherished memories

[mahalo kuʻuhoa pn for the inspiration]

And, as she has for millennia, Pelehonuamea continues her work. I contemplate in wonderment while marveling at her efficiencies. On her way ma kai from Keahialaka, refreshment was needed, and she drank from lakewaters. Not long after, perhaps hungering for iʻa (fish), she visited first the fishponds at the head of the bay at Kapoho. This craving for fish, we have seen, is a common thing for her. Three loko iʻa (fish ponds) in Kekahawaiʻole, Kona ʻĀkau (North Kona), fed Pele in the 1800ʻs: Pāʻaiea at Keāhole, on the flank of Hualālai in 1801, and Wainānāliʻi and Kīholo, those ponds on the slope on Mauna Loa on either side of Keawaiki, in 1859. And now Pele dines at Kīlauea, at Kapoho in Puna ma kai. Hualālai, Mauna Loa, and Kīlauea were the sources. Three luaʻi pele from three of our mauna, provided three different place settings and meals.

Kumukahi, that wahi pana (legendary place) at the eastern tip of Hawaiʻi, is the first to greet the sunrise. The surrounding area has been, and continues to be a place of geologic unrest. The East Rift Zone of Kīlauea enters the Pacific there, and weʻve learned that many eruptions have happened nearby: in 1840, in 1955, and in 1960. Those are ones whose tales have been told in writing. Native Hawaiian residents of the region centuries past witnessed great upheavals too: the creation of Kapoho Cone perhaps 200 to 400 years ago, pele flowing into the sea periodically over several hundred years, repeated intrusions of magma shaking and cracking the ground, and swaths of shoreline subsidence. All of these works of Pele in Puna are legendary and are well-documented in chant and in writing.

Starting with a USGS Geologic Map:

The older flows: p3 = 750 to 1,500 years old, p4o = 400 to 750 years old, and p4y and pc4y = 200 to 400 years old.

Then, from the State Survey Office, one can explore many, many archival maps.

Hereʻs a screenshot of their page with the url. The "1777" in the yellow box is the Registered Map Number. You can download the Index by clicking on the pdf link Registered Map Index next to the yellow box.

This is a portion of RegMap 1777, Surveyed and Drawn by A.B. Loebenstein in 1895. To see the full map, follow the instructions above. Zooming in reveals a plethora of info: trails, caves, holua, many place names, etc.

Then a closeup of the fishpond Pele visited starting at about 1030 last night. Itʻs the square in the middle: "Sunken walls of Fish Ponds". And to the right, just below "HALEKAM[AHINA], the text reads "Coast Line 1883 Survey now covered high tide". Remember that the area was surveyed for this map in 1895. Ongoing, continued, episodic subsidence...

Below was yesterday evening. A spectacular "vent to terminus" shot. Fish pond walls clearly visible at the head of the bay:

And this morning, the fishponds are gone. Note that the steaming ma uka of the shoreline comes from many small landlocked ponds scattered through the area. And those wisps of steam rising from the surface of the sea = waiwelawelawela. Too hot for us.

Fountaining at Fissure 8, the source, continues unabated. ʻŌlaʻi, thankfully, are few and far between, though that may mean that there is an open conduit for the erupting lava. Not necessarily a good thing for those hoping for this to end soon. But one never knows...

BACK TO THE SUMMIT REGION:

Yesterday, the BIG news was the BIG "earthquake" that "rocked" the Big Island. Media words, not mine. And the No Tsunami Was Generated message. Not mine either.

Hereʻs my version of whatʻs going on. And to repeat, again, I have NO credentials in the academic fields of seismology, geophysics, volcanology, etc. I just go

be outside...pay attention noho i waho...a maliu

And I read a lot. And have some really smart, generous, friends. OK? Starting on or about Lei Day (May 1), because of the draining of Puʻuʻōʻō, the LERZ intrusion, etc., the lava lake in Halemaʻumaʻu (HMM), and the summit region in general, started to subside or deflate. As more and more magma exits the summit region, the ground sinks and sinks and sinks. Five (5) feet and more so far was the last I heard. That sinking is demonstrated by many many many ʻōlaʻi (earthquakes). That process continues. Somewhere between May 9 and 12, the withdrawing lake encountered ground water at the watertable. We had our first HUGE ash emission on May 15. Silent, big, impressive. More followed. More earthquakes. More lehu (ash).

On May 31 or so, we got a peek inside the newly refurbished HMM. Deep and impressive, encircled by concentric cracks on the floor of Kaluapele (the caldera). Then I think last Friday, June 1, I noted a difference in our ʻōlaʻi. They had evolved into ʻami. That rotation-of-the-hips hula motion. Sometimes to the right, sometimes to the left. Slow ones. Not violent, though of long duration.

This is the pattern Iʻve come to discern, for what itʻs worth...a day or so when the ground doesnʻt move much, followed by a day or so of increasing wobbles and queasiness, then they become more and more frequent, then a big ʻami and a big concurrent (more or less) emission of lehu. Then we relax and breathe, and repeat.

Late yesterday, USGS noted:

A moderate earthquake (5.5 preliminary) resulting from a volcanic explosion and continued collapse around Halemaumau occurred at 15:50 HST.

So I think that these exploquakes are different than regular (if there is such a thing) rockfracturing earthquakes. I visualize Pelehonuamea with a tickly throat. She starts coughing, first infrequently, then more and more. Her throat is that long deep conduit from the surface, down to where ever. Her coughs rise, circling up the pipe. Then finally, in a paroxysmal fit, she manages to clear her throat, and expels the irritating lehu. This happens in a circular fashion so we are able to distinguish her expectorations from her footstompings and groundsettlings of "regular" ʻōlaʻi. Or something. Or not.

A bit of tannish lehu from the lua on the far side, and her white māhu closer...