Monitoring the cooling of the 1959 Kīlauea Iki lava lake using surface magnetic measurements

Lava lakes can be considered as proxies for small magma chambers, offering a unique opportunity to investigate magma evolution and solidification. Repeated magnetic ground surveys over more than 50 years each show a large vertical magnetic intensity anomaly associated with Kīlauea Iki Crater, partly...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Bulletin of volcanology 2017-06, Vol.79 (6), p.1, Article 40
Main Authors: Gailler, Lydie, Kauahikaua, Jim
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cooling
Depth
Earth and Environmental Science
Earth Sciences
Evolution
Geology
Geophysics
Geophysics/Geodesy
Growth
Lakes
Lava
Magma
Magma chambers
Magnetic field
Magnetic fields
Magnetic intensity
Magnetism
Methods
Mineralogy
Monitoring
Polls & surveys
Research Article
Rock
Sciences of the Universe
Sedimentology
Solidification
Surveys
Temperature
Volcanic eruptions
Volcanoes
Volcanology
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Summary:Lava lakes can be considered as proxies for small magma chambers, offering a unique opportunity to investigate magma evolution and solidification. Repeated magnetic ground surveys over more than 50 years each show a large vertical magnetic intensity anomaly associated with Kīlauea Iki Crater, partly filled with a lava lake during the 1959 eruption of Kīlauea Volcano (Island of Hawai’i). The magnetic field values recorded across the Kīlauea Iki crater floor and the cooling lava lake below result from three simple effects: the static remnant magnetization of the rocks forming the steep crater walls, the solidifying lava lake crust, and the hot, but shrinking, paramagnetic non-magnetic lens (>540 °C). We calculate 2D magnetic models to reconstruct the temporal evolution of the geometry of this non-magnetic body, its depth below the surface, and its thickness. Our results are in good agreement with the theoretical increase in thickness of the solidifying crust with time. Using the 2D magnetic models and the theoretical curve for crustal growth over a lava lake, we estimate that the former lava lake will be totally cooled below the Curie temperature in about 20 years. This study shows the potential of magnetic methods for detecting and monitoring magmatic intrusions at various scales.
ISSN:0258-8900
1432-0819
DOI:10.1007/s00445-017-1119-7