Scientists have discovered an extraordinarily deep (>90 km) magma chamber in Hawaii that keeps Hawaii’s volcanoes active.

For the first time, new international research undertaken by Monash University has detailed what may have prompted the birth of Kilauea, one of Hawaii’s most active volcanoes.

Kilauea, on Hawaii’s southeastern shore, is thought to be between 210,000 and 280,000 years old and to have risen above sea level about 100,000 years ago.

Dr. Laura Miller of Monash University’s School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment is the lead author of a study published in Nature Communications that indicates for the first time that Hawaiian volcanoes were formed from magmas that evolved in an extraordinarily deep (>90 km) magma chamber.

A magma chamber is a vast pool of liquid rock located beneath the Earth’s surface.

Doctor Miller remarked, “We obtained some of the very first volcanic products erupted by Kilauea.”

“We explored the formation of these samples through experimental work, which involved melting synthetic rocks at high temperatures (> 1100 ˚C) and pressures (> 3 GPa), and by using a new method for modeling their rare earth element concentrations,” the researchers said.

“We found that the samples could only be formed by the crystallization and removal (fractional crystallization) of garnet.”

Kilauea refers to the continuous flow of lava and is Hawaiian for “spewing” or “much spreading.”

Dr. Miller added, “Our study demonstrates unambiguously the role of garnet crystallization in the formation of pre-shield stage Hawaiian melts.”

“This challenges the current viewpoint that fractional crystallization is solely a shallow process and suggests that the development of a deep (> 90 km) magma chamber is an important early stage in the birth of a Hawaiian volcano.”

Image Credit: Getty

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