PacificTWC | Earthquakes of Hawaiʻi Island: 2013 - 2018 @PacificTWC | Uploaded 5 years ago | Updated 6 minutes ago
This animation shows earthquakes on or near the Big Island of Hawaiʻi in sequence as they occurred from January 1, 2012, through December 31, 2018. Prior to 2018 the animation proceeds at a speed of one month per second, but shifts into a “slow motion” rate of one week per second for 2018 to better show the extraordinary seismic activity associated with that year’s new eruptive activity on Kīlauea Volcano, including the M6.9 earthquake on May 4 that generated a small observable, but non-life-threatening, tsunami. This animation starts in 2013 when the NEIC catalog begins to include many smaller earthquakes as it does today, thus we can see what a typical level of earthquake activity looks like prior to the elevated activity of 2018.
The earthquake hypocenters first appear as flashes then remain as colored circles before shrinking with time so as not to obscure subsequent earthquakes. The initial size of the circle represents the earthquake’s magnitude while the color represents its depth within the earth. The animation concludes with a summary map showing all of the quakes used in this presentation.
Instead of plate tectonics, three principal mechanisms cause seismic activity within the Hawaiian Islands. First, movement of magma within volcanoes and other volcanic phenomena (such as explosions) can cause ground shaking. Second, motion along faults within the volcanoes and at the boundary between the volcanoes and the old ocean floor they sit on can generate earthquakes, including the largest ones recorded in Hawaiʻi. And third, the weight of these enormous volcanoes bends the lithosphere (oceanic crust + brittle upper mantle) and sometimes it will break, causing earthquakes. In this animation events recorded within the volcano tend to be shallower and will have “warmer” (red, orange, yellow) colors, while those within the lithosphere tend to be deeper and have “cooler” (blue to violet) colors. For a fuller explanation of the origin of earthquakes in Hawaiʻi please watch this video:
youtu.be/H0bnaV35Sno
For a comparison of historic earthquake magnitudes in Hawaiʻi, please watch:
youtu.be/k4bUliVLoOY
To view an animation of earthquake activity throughout the Hawaiian Islands, please watch:
youtu.be/7wQkJ3THyN0
To view an animation of activity associated with the 2018 Kīlauea eruptions, please watch:
youtu.be/Pc9hM08uscM
This animation uses data from the USGS's National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC):
earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/search
This animation shows earthquakes on or near the Big Island of Hawaiʻi in sequence as they occurred from January 1, 2012, through December 31, 2018. Prior to 2018 the animation proceeds at a speed of one month per second, but shifts into a “slow motion” rate of one week per second for 2018 to better show the extraordinary seismic activity associated with that year’s new eruptive activity on Kīlauea Volcano, including the M6.9 earthquake on May 4 that generated a small observable, but non-life-threatening, tsunami. This animation starts in 2013 when the NEIC catalog begins to include many smaller earthquakes as it does today, thus we can see what a typical level of earthquake activity looks like prior to the elevated activity of 2018.
The earthquake hypocenters first appear as flashes then remain as colored circles before shrinking with time so as not to obscure subsequent earthquakes. The initial size of the circle represents the earthquake’s magnitude while the color represents its depth within the earth. The animation concludes with a summary map showing all of the quakes used in this presentation.
Instead of plate tectonics, three principal mechanisms cause seismic activity within the Hawaiian Islands. First, movement of magma within volcanoes and other volcanic phenomena (such as explosions) can cause ground shaking. Second, motion along faults within the volcanoes and at the boundary between the volcanoes and the old ocean floor they sit on can generate earthquakes, including the largest ones recorded in Hawaiʻi. And third, the weight of these enormous volcanoes bends the lithosphere (oceanic crust + brittle upper mantle) and sometimes it will break, causing earthquakes. In this animation events recorded within the volcano tend to be shallower and will have “warmer” (red, orange, yellow) colors, while those within the lithosphere tend to be deeper and have “cooler” (blue to violet) colors. For a fuller explanation of the origin of earthquakes in Hawaiʻi please watch this video:
youtu.be/H0bnaV35Sno
For a comparison of historic earthquake magnitudes in Hawaiʻi, please watch:
youtu.be/k4bUliVLoOY
To view an animation of earthquake activity throughout the Hawaiian Islands, please watch:
youtu.be/7wQkJ3THyN0
To view an animation of activity associated with the 2018 Kīlauea eruptions, please watch:
youtu.be/Pc9hM08uscM
This animation uses data from the USGS's National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC):
earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/search
