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Researchers at the University of Oregon say they have identified a new type of volcanic eruption.
It was discovered while studying the massive 2018 eruption of Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano.
The eruption began on May 3 in a residential subdivision called Leilani Estates.
The UO researchers say as the lava flowed out of Kilauea’s magma chamber, the caldera of the volcano about 25 miles away began to collapse.
Pressure built up until an explosive event was triggered, sending debris flying into the air.
Twelve of these eruptions were observed between May 17 and May 28.
The researchers compare it to a stomp rocket toy, where you stomp down on an air reservoir and the pressure pushed through a hose sends a projectile into the air.
“Volcanic eruptions rarely happen in a regular manner. The other thing that’s really unusual about this sequence of events is just how well they were monitored,” said Leif Karlstrom, professor of volcanology at the University of Oregon. “Most eruptions happen in remote places where there’s not very much data. Kilauea is one of the best monitored volcanoes on Earth. So we have an opportunity here to really dive into the details, the mechanisms, the physical processes that are driving volcanic eruptions. So that’s really the biggest advance here, that we have enough data that we can get into the details, and we can learn something new about the processes underlying these eruptions.”
The researchers are now using this data to look at other past eruptions for similarities. The data could also potentially help them forecast future eruptions.
The study was done with scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey and China’s Sichuan University.
It was published in the “Nature Geoscience” journal on Monday.