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Science 9 January 1987:
Vol. 235. no. 4785, pp. 196 - 199
DOI: 10.1126/science.235.4785.196
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Articles

Disruption of the Mauna Loa Magma System by the 1868 Hawaiian Earthquake: Geochemical Evidence

ROBERT I. TILLING 1, J. MICHAEL RHODES 2, JOEL W. SPARKS 2, JOHN P. LOCKWOOD 3, and PETER W. LIPMAN 4

1 U.S. Geological Survey, National Center, Reston, VA 22092.
2 University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003.
3 U.S. Geological Survey, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, HI 96718.
4 U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, CO 80225.

To test whether a catastrophic earthquake could affect an active magma system, mean abundances (adjusted for "olivine control") of titanium, potassium, phosphorus, strontium, zirconium, and niobium of historic lavas erupted from Mauna Loa Volcano, Hawaii, after 1868 were analyzed and were found to decrease sharply relative to lavas erupted before 1868. This abrupt change in lava chemistry, accompanied by a halved lava-production rate for Mauna Loa after 1877, is interpreted to reflect the disruptive effects of a magnitude 7.5 earthquake in 1868. This interpretation represents a documentable case of changes in magmatic chemical variations initiated or accelerated by a major tectonic event.

Submitted on June 16, 1986
Accepted on October 10, 1986


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
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