Spatial and temporal geochemical variations of lava flows and tephra deposits from the December 2020 to September 2024 eruptions of Kīlauea volcano

Drew T. Downs; Kendra J. Lynn; Heather Brianne Winslow; Steven P. Lundblad; Meghann F.I. Decker

doi:10.1007/s00445-026-01957-x

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Spatial and temporal geochemical variations of lava flows and tephra deposits from the December 2020 to September 2024 eruptions of Kīlauea volcano

Drew T. Downs·Kendra J. Lynn·Heather Brianne Winslow·Steven P. Lundblad·Meghann F.I. Decker

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Abstract

Kīlauea volcano underwent dramatic morphological changes in 2018. That year recorded the end of the 35-year-long eruption of Puʻuʻōʻō (1983–2018) and 10-year-long (2008–2018) Halemaʻumaʻu lava lake and emplacement of the ~4-month-long lower East Rift Zone lava flows that coincided with ~500 m of summit caldera collapse. Starting on December 20, 2020, eruptions resumed at Kīlauea’s summit. There were five summit eruptions between December 2020 and September 2023, which ranged in duration from more than a year to as short as a week. Following these summit eruptions, seismicity and deformation increased in the upper Southwest Rift Zone in 2024, culminating in a ~8.5-h-long eruption in this region on June 3, 2024. Increased seismicity and deformation then shifted to the upper and middle East Rift Zone and after several months culminated in an eruption just west of, and within, Nāpau Crater in the middle East Rift Zone from September 15 to 20, 2024. Despite vast morphological changes at Kīlauea’s summit, the geochemical compositions (i.e., whole rock and glass) that erupted from December 2020 to September 2023 are all remarkably similar to each other. Whole-rock compositions appear distinct from the preceding 2008–2018 Halemaʻumaʻu lava lake and phase 3 (i.e., summit or uprift-derived mafic lavas) of the 2018 lower East Rift Zone lava flows, although glass compositions appear to have more overlap with 2018 lower East Rift Zone glasses. The June 3, 2024, upper Southwest Rift Zone spatter and lava flows exhibit a dramatic enrichment in whole-rock MgO that is not recorded in glass, which reflects accumulation of olivine (e.g., antecrysts or xenocrysts) during dike emplacement, and is consistent with the abundance of olivine in the lava flows (5–10%). June 2024 Southwest Rift Zone whole-rock and glass compositions overlap with those erupted at the summit from December 2020 to September 2023, whereas some whole-rock trace (i.e., Sc, Sr, and Zr) and major elements (i.e., CaO) are suggestive of mixing with a magmatic component that had fractionated plagioclase and pyroxene and/or a new parental magma influencing the summit reservoir system. The September 15–20, 2024, eruption at Nāpau Crater in the middle East Rift Zone involved the most differentiated magma since eruptive activity resumed in December 2020, with its magma fractionating olivine + plagioclase + pyroxene. The September 15–20, 2024, composition resembles Puʻuʻōʻō lava flows that erupted in, or near, Nāpau Crater in 1983 (episode 1), 1997 (episode 54), and 2011 (episode 59), with episode 59 having a compositional cluster that is most similar to that of the September 2024 lava flows. The data presented and provided herein open new research perspectives for long-term analyses of geochemical variations following caldera collapse at Kīlauea volcano and facilitate comparisons with other basaltic caldera systems worldwide.

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Bulletin of Volcanology Article

Source-reported bounding extent: 19.27430771431321° to 19.493695096800963° latitude; -155.33139629075612° to -155.12603194289784° longitude. This indicates report coverage, not an exact sampling location. View area on OpenStreetMap.

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BibTeX RIS

Drew T. Downs, Kendra J. Lynn, Heather Brianne Winslow, Steven P. Lundblad, Meghann F.I. Decker. 2026-03-16. Spatial and temporal geochemical variations of lava flows and tephra deposits from the December 2020 to September 2024 eruptions of Kīlauea volcano. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-026-01957-x

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