After ruling out pressure within the magma chamber, scientists investigate precipitation as a cause for 2018 eruption.
In May 2018 Kīlauea volcano on the island of Hawaii erupted, touching off months of intense activity. Through August, incandescent lava from fissures spewed hundreds of feet in the air, and billowing ash clouds reached as high as six miles into the atmosphere. Huge lava flows inundated land up and down the Pacific island’s southeast coast, destroying hundreds of homes.
Volcanoes erupt when molten rock called magma rises to the surface, and many factors, from the shape of the volcano to the composition of the magma, factor into the timing of eruptions. In the case of Kīlauea, a new, NASA-funded study published April 22 in the journal Nature points to another eruption factor: prolonged, sometimes heavy rainfall in the months leading up to the event.
“We knew that changes to water content in Earth’s shallow crust can trigger earthquakes and landslides, and now we know that it can also trigger eruptions,” said Falk Amelung, professor of geophysics at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science and co-author of the study. “Under pressure from magma, wet rock breaks easier than dry rock inside the volcano. That, in turn, forges pathways for magma to travel to Earth’s surface.”
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Image via NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
