Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Unusual set of earthquakes near Mauna Kea Summit

Starting with a 4.5 magnitude, in the past two hours there have been over 23 earthquakes in a tight cluster located about six miles west-northwest of the summit of Mauna Kea. The depth of these quakes seems to average about 12 miles.
So far, besides the 4.5 there has been a couple over magnitude 3.0, with most around 2.3 or so (see complete list below). One small quake was very near Mauna Kea summit itself. 530 people reported feeling the 4.5
Mauna Kea is categorized as a dormant volcano, having last erupted about 4,500 years ago. However, Mauna Kea is likely to erupt again someday.

Also, perhaps unrelated, there was a short sharp drop on the deformation tilt graph monitior for Kilauea (upper right corner) that at a glance looks to be closely timed to the current quakes, though it is hard to be precise without a closer timeline.

You can keep track of these quakes and any new ones on the Hawaii Island Earthquake Map HERE.

CURRENT LIST OF QUAKES:
map 2.3 2011/10/19 16:14:31 19.844N 155.546W 14.8 8 km ( 5 mi) WNW of Mauna Kea Summit
map 2.0 2011/10/19 15:48:54 19.880N 155.548W 17.6 10 km ( 6 mi) NW of Mauna Kea Summit
map 2.2 2011/10/19 15:42:19 19.895N 155.554W 17.2 11 km ( 7 mi) ENE of Waiki`i
map 2.3 2011/10/19 15:29:13 19.881N 155.547W 17.0 10 km ( 6 mi) NW of Mauna Kea Summit
map 2.5 2011/10/19 15:24:05 19.875N 155.537W 17.9 9 km ( 6 mi) NW of Mauna Kea Summit
map 2.1 2011/10/19 15:22:20 19.890N 155.545W 17.6 11 km ( 7 mi) NW of Mauna Kea Summit
map 2.7 2011/10/19 15:11:01 19.863N 155.533W 17.0 8 km ( 5 mi) NW of Mauna Kea Summit
map 2.1 2011/10/19 15:04:37 19.880N 155.545W 18.0 10 km ( 6 mi) NW of Mauna Kea Summit
MAP 3.3 2011/10/19 14:59:00 19.884N 155.539W 19.5 10 km ( 6 mi) NW of Mauna Kea Summit
map 2.4 2011/10/19 14:57:03 19.855N 155.542W 14.8 8 km ( 5 mi) WNW of Mauna Kea Summit
map 2.6 2011/10/19 14:48:01 19.881N 155.541W 16.7 10 km ( 6 mi) NW of Mauna Kea Summit
map 2.4 2011/10/19 14:45:56 19.845N 155.546W 14.7 8 km ( 5 mi) WNW of Mauna Kea Summit
map 2.8 2011/10/19 14:45:17 19.879N 155.545W 15.2 10 km ( 6 mi) NW of Mauna Kea Summit
map 2.1 2011/10/19 14:33:40 19.886N 155.548W 18.1 11 km ( 7 mi) NW of Mauna Kea Summit
map 1.7 2011/10/19 14:31:52 19.858N 155.527W 16.2 7 km ( 4 mi) WNW of Mauna Kea Summit
map 2.0 2011/10/19 14:30:47 19.838N 155.408W 16.7 7 km ( 4 mi) ENE of Mauna Kea Summit
map 2.5 2011/10/19 14:27:44 19.878N 155.536W 18.6 9 km ( 6 mi) NW of Mauna Kea Summit
map 2.4 2011/10/19 14:25:25 19.874N 155.547W 16.3 10 km ( 6 mi) NW of Mauna Kea Summit
map 2.8 2011/10/19 14:21:04 19.884N 155.538W 18.7 10 km ( 6 mi) NW of Mauna Kea Summit
map 2.0 2011/10/19 14:18:11 19.865N 155.522W 16.9 7 km ( 4 mi) NW of Mauna Kea Summit
map 1.9 2011/10/19 14:16:15 19.883N 155.541W 17.8 10 km ( 6 mi) NW of Mauna Kea Summit
MAP 3.6 2011/10/19 14:12:34 19.888N 155.527W 18.2 9 km ( 6 mi) NW of Mauna Kea Summit
MAP 4.5 2011/10/19 14:10:04 19.883N 155.532W 18.8 9 km ( 6 mi) NW of Mauna Kea Summit

1 comment:

  1. Wow! Thanks for the update...appreciate your efforts.
    Pat and Mike DeMarco

    ReplyDelete