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The 12 September 1999 Upper East Rift Zone dike intrusion at Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii

January 1, 2002

Deformation associated with an earthquake swarm on 12 September 1999 in the Upper East Rift Zone of Kilauea Volcano was recorded by continuous GPS receivers and by borehole tiltmeters. Analyses of campaign GPS, leveling data, and interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data from the ERS-2 satellite also reveal significant deformation from the swarm. We interpret the swarm as resulting from a dike intrusion and model the deformation field using a constant pressure dike source. Nonlinear inversion was used to find the model that best fits the data. The optimal dike is located beneath and slightly to the west of Mauna Ulu, dips steeply toward the south, and strikes nearly east-west. It is approximately 3 by 2 km across and was driven by a pressure of ∼15 MPa. The total volume of the dike was 3.3 × 106 m3. Tilt data indicate a west to east propagation direction. Lack of premonitory inflation of Kilauea's summit suggests a passive intrusion; that is, the immediate cause of the intrusion was probably tensile failure in the shallow crust of the Upper East Rift Zone brought about by persistent deep rifting and by continued seaward sliding of Kilauea's south flank.

Publication Year 2002
Title The 12 September 1999 Upper East Rift Zone dike intrusion at Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii
DOI 10.1029/2001JB000602
Authors Peter Cervelli, P. Segall, F. Amelung, H. Garbeil, C. Meertens, S. Owen, Asta Miklius, M. Lisowski
Publication Type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Series Title Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth
Index ID 70024503
Record Source USGS Publications Warehouse
USGS Organization Hawaiian Volcano Observatory
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