Baby Volano Earthquake!

Living in Humboldt County, CA for 22 years, meant living with earthquakes, but on June 4, at our new home in Hawaii, we felt a significant shaker!   Now we have small earthquakes frequently - every week.  We've had a couple in just the last week, one with an epicenter only 4 miles away at Pahoa Town, but they are usually, 1.4-2-8 or so. 

 

Tuesday, round lunchtime, we were in front of the house inspecting the great work on the new addition when we all felt a significant earthquake.  On the property we have a few areas that are solid lava, and that’s where we were standing. It was a 5.3 quake.

Checking more info on the USGS site, we found out that the epicenter 40 km down, was at submarine seamount “Lo’ihi.  The "rainbow map" shown abve is a shaded "Bathymetric map" of Loihi Seamount as it now looks, following the July 1996 eruption and seismic event. The 3 depressions in the summit area are "pit craters"; the lower-left most crater was formed in July 1996.  Map made by UH graduate student Nathan Becker using 1997 seabeam bathymetry and the GMT program.