{"id":129152,"date":"2020-10-21T13:27:11","date_gmt":"2020-10-21T23:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=129152"},"modified":"2020-10-21T13:27:11","modified_gmt":"2020-10-21T23:27:11","slug":"koae-fault-system-leveling-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2020\/10\/21\/koae-fault-system-leveling-research\/","title":{"rendered":"UH<\/abbr> Hilo students critical to post eruption research"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"geology
UH<\/abbr> Hilo geology majors measure vertical offset of Hilina Pali road in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Volcanoes National Park. (Photo credit: Steve Lundblad)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since the 2018 K\u012blauea volcano eruption, the Department of Geology<\/a> at the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at Hilo<\/a> has partnered with Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Volcano Observatory (HVO<\/abbr>) scientists to do “old school” leveling, a valuable measuring method to track changes in the Koaʻe<\/span> fault system. UH<\/abbr> Hilo has capable and enthusiastic geology students, and through the years, many have volunteered to measure the cracks and faults.<\/p>\n

Students have played important roles in collecting and analyzing the data through conducting leveling research. Thus far, two groups of students have traveled to scientific conferences to present their findings.<\/p>\n

“We are proud of the contributions these new researchers have made to the Island of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> community and the wider world of science,” said UH<\/abbr> Hilo geology Professor Steve Lundblad<\/strong>, who penned a column about the research<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Koaʻe<\/span> fault system<\/h2>\n

The Koaʻe<\/span> fault system connects K\u012blauea\u2019s East and Southwest Rift Zones south of the caldera. Faults here appear as low cliffs or “scarps” along Hilina Pali Road in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Volcanoes National Park. These fault-cliffs slip during major earthquakes, as happened on May 4, 2018, near the beginning of K\u012blauea\u2019s 2018 eruption.<\/p>\n

U.S.<\/abbr> Geological Survey scientists first began leveling along the Koaʻe<\/span> faults in the 1960s, providing a long-standing record of data and field stations. Around each leveling station is an array of subsidiary “crack stations,” allowing measurement across individual Koaʻe<\/span> faults and their related ground cracks.<\/p>\n

\"Steve
Steve Lundblad<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When the Koaʻe<\/span> faults move, they either slide vertically or open to create a deep crack. A dramatic example of opening was the Hilina Pali Road 2018 faulting near Kulanaokuaiki campground, which split the road. The prominent slope the road ascends is a result of repeated fault movement over several hundred years. Shortly after the end of the 2018 eruption, leveling revealed that the rates of change along the Koaʻe<\/span> faults quickly returned to the much slower normal pace.<\/p>\n

“We\u2019ve learned several important things about the behavior of the fault system from the on-going Koaʻe<\/span> leveling campaign,” wrote Lundblad. “Most of the relief along these cliffs is created by large events. The faults are also very efficient ‘earth movers.’ Very few new cracks formed as a result of the large geologic events of 2018.”<\/p>\n

Read Lundblad’s full column at the USGS<\/abbr> website.<\/a><\/p>\n

—From UH<\/abbr> Hilo Stories<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Students conducted leveling research alongside HVO<\/abbr> scientists to track changes following K\u012blauea\u2019s 2018 eruption.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[252,1313,14,907],"class_list":["post-129152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-geology","tag-kilauea-eruption-2018","tag-uh-hilo","tag-uh-hilo-stories","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129152"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129152\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":129161,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129152\/revisions\/129161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}