New research reveals the chilling reason why a Hawaiian town has 500 earthquakes a week
The number of quakes in Pahala dramatically increased after the 2018 eruption of the Kilauea volcano
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Scientists say they have worked out why a small town in Hawaii has been hit by around 500 earthquakes a week.
Researchers say that Pahala on the island of Hawaii sits above an “interconnected feature” between 22 and 26 miles underground that is slowly swelling with molten rock, according to research published in Science.
Pahala has experienced swarms of earthquakes for decades. By 2015, the number had increased from around seven a week to 34.
Experts say that after the eruption of the Kilauea volcano on the island in 2018, the number dramatically shot up to hundreds per week -- around 192,000 in all.
Scientists say in their research that as pulses of magma, which is molten or semi-molten rock found deep beneath the Earth’s surface, enter the “sills” a string of earthquakes travel along their length.
Terror on Hawaii beaches as more than 150 people are stung by jellyfish in a single dayRussian vessel filmed off Hawaii is ‘intelligence gathering ship’, says US coast guard
Hawaii fisherman overboard, missing after hooking large ahiKilauea crater glows red with lava as volcanic activity resumes inside Hawaii volcano
Moment Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano erupts once again, creating spectacular lava lake
“We were freaking out,” John Wilding, a graduate researcher at the California Institute of Technology and lead author of a study into the earthquakes, told National Geographic. “No one had ever directly observed magmatic activity at this scale before.”
The researchers used machine learning algorithms to dig through seismic data picked up by a network of sensors and found earthquakes so small they had previously been missed.
The quakes are located between the planet’s crust and core and reportedly so tiny that most of them are never felt on the surface.
Experts think that the town sits above a column of rock called a “hotspot” that helped build the Hawaiian islands, which have 15 volcanoes.
Kilauea, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, is erupting again earlier this month, creating lava fountains and lava “waves.”
Kilauea last erupted for 16 months starting in September 2021. For about two weeks starting last November, Hawaii had two volcanoes spewing lava side-by-side when Mauna Loa erupted for the first time in 38 years.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments