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Research about Kilauea Iki lava lake

Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including Kilauea Iki lava lake.

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Investigation of magnesium isotope fractionation during basalt differentiation: Implications for a chondritic composition of the terrestrial mantle

To investigate whether magnesium isotopes are fractionated during basalt differentiation, we have performed high-precision Mg isotopic analyses by multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS) on a set of well-characterized samples from Kilauea Iki lava lake, Hawaii, USA. Samples from the Kilauea Iki lava lake, produced by closed-system crystal-melt fractionation, range from olivine-rich cumulates to highly differentiated basalts with MgO content ranging from 2.37 to 26.87 wt.%. Our results demonstrate that although these basalts have diverse chemical compositions, mineralogies, crystallization temperatures and degrees of differentiation, their Mg isotopic compositions display no measurable variation within the limits of our external precision (average δ 26 Mg = − 0.36 ± 0.10 and δ 25 Mg = − 0.20 ± 0.07; uncertainties are 2SD). This indicates that Mg isotopic fractionation during crystal-melt fractionation at temperatures of ≥ 1055 °C is undetectable at the level of precision of the current investigation. Calculations based on our data suggest that at near-magmatic temperatures the maximum fractionation in the 26 Mg/ 24 Mg ratio between olivine and melt is 0.07‰. Two additional oceanic basalts, two continental basalts (BCR-1 and BCR-2), and two primitive carbonaceous chondrites (Allende and Murchison) analyzed in this study have Mg isotopic compositions similar to the Kilauea Iki lava lake samples. In contrast to a recent report [U. Wiechert, A.N. Halliday, Non-chondritic magnesium and the origins of the inner terrestrial planets, Earth and Planetary Science Letters 256 (2007) 360–371], the results presented here suggest that the Bulk Silicate Earth has a chondritic Mg isotopic composition.

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A catalogue of drill core recovered from Kilauea Iki lava lake, from 1967 to 1979

The purpose of this report is to serve as a descriptive catalogue for drill core recovered from Kilauea Iki lava lake, from 1967 to 1979. Kilauea Iki lava lake was formed when lavas of the 1959 summit eruption were ponded in Kilauea Iki pit crater, a large pit crater at the extreme upper end of Kilauea's east rift zone (Fig. 1). This eruption is one of the best documented of Kilauean eruptions: Murata and Richter (1966) and Richter and Murata (1966) presented data on the chemistry and petrography of the lavas, respectively, and Richter et al. (1970) described the complex filling of the pit crater in considerable detail. Investigation of the lava lake began a few months after the crust stabilized, with the establishment of two perpendicular lines of levelling stations on the surface of the lake. In 1960-62, four holes were drilled through the upper crust in the center of the lake; the crust was 22-44 feet (6.7-13.4 m) thick at that time. Richter and Moore (1966) presented petrographic, modal, and chemical data on the core recovered from this early drilling. The upper crust of Kilauea Iki was drilled again in 1967 by staff members of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, and core was recovered from three holes. In 1975, U.S. Geological Survey workers drilled three more holes, each a few feet away from one of the 1 967 holes. A summary of all work done on Kilauea Iki and other Hawaiian lava lakes through 1975 has been given by Wright et al. (1976). The lake has been redrilled twice since 1975, by workers from Sandia Laboratories, as part of their Magma Energy Research program, in cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey. In 1976, they drilled two holes near the center of the lake. In 1978-79, they drilled a total of six holes; one, commissioned by the U.S. Geological Survey, went completely through the lava lake near its north edge, into the pre-1959 lavas below.

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Summary of results from electromagnetic and galvanic soundings on Kilauea Iki lava lake, Hawaii

The purpose of this report is to summarize various electrical sounding studies made on the Kilauea Iki lava lake and to present some of the preliminary interpretations that resulted from the measurements. The following discussion is not intended as a complete interpretation, but is intended to summarize the major points made in an invited oral presentation at the American Geophysical Union fall meeting held in San Francisco, Calif. on December 6, 1976. This paper was part of a group of papers dealing with various geophysical studies recently made on the Kilauea Iki lava lake. A general plan map of Kilauea Iki lava lake is shown in figure 1. Electromagnetic (EM) loop-loop soundings, D.C. resistivity soundings, and VLF apparent resistivity measurements were made on the lave lake surface. All of these surveys were made to determine the geoelectric structure of the lava lake and to determine parameters of the molten basaltic lens that exist in the partially solidified lava lake.

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