American Geophysical Union Become an AGU Member
Subscribe to AGU Journals
AGU Home AGU Publications

Read Full Article (file size: 268076 bytes)    Cited by

GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 30, NO. 22, 2173, doi:10.1029/2003GL018676, 2003

Groundwater level changes in a deep well in response to a magma intrusion event on Kilauea Volcano, Hawai'i

Shaul Hurwitz

U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California, USA


Malcolm J. S. Johnston

U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California, USA


Abstract

On May 21, 2001, an abrupt inflation of Kilauea Volcano's summit induced a rapid and large increase in compressional strain, with a maximum of 2 μstrain recorded by a borehole dilatometer. Water level (pressure) simultaneously dropped by 6 cm. This mode of water level change (drop) is in contrast to that expected for compressional strain from poroelastic theory, and therefore it is proposed that the stress applied by the intrusion has caused opening of fractures or interflows that drained water out of the well. Upon relaxation of the stress recorded by the dilatometer, water levels have recovered at a similar rate. The proposed model has implications for the analysis of ground surface deformation and for mechanisms that trigger phreatomagmatic eruptions.

Received 20 September 2003; accepted 28 October 2003; published 28 November 2003.

Index Terms: 5104 Physical Properties of Rocks: Fracture and flow; 8045 Structural Geology: Role of fluids; 8494 Volcanology: Instruments and techniques; 8424 Volcanology: Hydrothermal systems (8135); 8160 Tectonophysics: Rheology—general.


Read Full Article (file size: 268076 bytes)    Cited by

Citation: Hurwitz, S., and M. J. S. Johnston (2003), Groundwater level changes in a deep well in response to a magma intrusion event on Kilauea Volcano, Hawai'i, Geophys. Res. Lett., 30(22), 2173, doi:10.1029/2003GL018676.