USGS HVO Press Release — Magnitude-5.3 earthquake on Kīlauea Volcano's south flank
The U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) recorded a magnitude-5.3 earthquake located beneath Kīlauea Volcano's south flank on Thursday, June 8, 2017, at 7:01 a.m. HST.
The earthquake, which was widely felt on the Island of Hawai‘i, was located about 18 km (11.2 mi) southeast of Volcano at a depth of 8 km (5 mi). A map showing the location of the earthquake is posted on HVO's website at https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/hvo/earthquakes/.
The USGS "Did you feel it?" website (https://earthquake.usgs.gov/dyfi/) received almost 800 felt reports within the first hour of the earthquake. The maximum intensity of shaking reported by Island of Hawai‘i residents was V on the Mercalli Intensity Scale, indicating moderate shaking.
According to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, there is no tsunami threat from this
earthquake. As of this writing, Hawai‘i County Civil Defense has not received any reports of damage.
There have been at least 15 aftershocks following this morning's magnitude-5.3 earthquake.
Kīlauea's south flank has been the site of 29 earthquakes of magnitude-4.0 or greater during the past 25 years. Most are caused by abrupt motion of the volcano's south flank, which moves to the southeast over the oceanic crust as a result of magma being injected into the East Rift Zone and long term settling of the volcano. The location and depth for today's earthquake are
consistent with slip along or above this south flank fault.
According to HVO Scientist-in-Charge Christina Neal the earthquake had no apparent effect
on Kīlauea Volcano's ongoing eruptions. "HVO monitoring networks have not detected any significant changes in activity at the summit or along the rift zones of Kīlauea or at other Hawaiian volcanoes resulting from the earthquake."
For more information on recent earthquakes in Hawaii and eruption updates, visit the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory website at https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/hvo/.
Volcano updates, photos, maps, and recent earthquake data for Hawaii are posted on the HVO website at https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/observatories/hvo.
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