| Lo`ihi Seamount Hawai`i's Youngest Submarine Volcano View of Lo`ihi Seamount northwest from a perspective high above and to the southeast of the Island of Hawai`i (green). Lo`ihi Seamount is in bottom center of image.Lo`ihi Seamount is an active volcano built on the seafloor south of Kilauea about 30 km from shore. The seamount rises to 969 m below sea level and generates frequent earthquake swarms, the most intense of which occurred in 1996. An eruption at Lo`ihi has yet to be observed, but scientists from the University of Hawai`i have recently made many submersible dives to the volcano and deployed instruments on its summit to study Lo`ihi in much greater detail. The summit of Lo`ihi is marked by a caldera-like depression 2.8 km wide and 3.7 km long. Three collapse pits or craters occupy the southern part of the caldera; the most recent pit formed during an intense earthquake swarm in July-August 1996. Named Pele's Pit, the new crater is about 600 m in diameter and its bottom is 300 m below the previous surface! Like the volcanoes on the Island of Hawaii, Lo`ihi has grown from eruptions along its 31-km-long rift zone that extends northwest and southeast of the caldera. Lo`ihi Seamount InformationLo`ihi page, maintained by the Hawaii Center for Volcanology, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawai`i in Manoa.Summary of 1996 Activity Description of the intense earthquake swarm in July-August 1996 and the changes observed in Lo`ihi's summit caldera; prepared by scientists of the Hawai`i Center for Volcanology, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawai`i Manoa. More than 4,000 earthquakes were recorded by HVO's seismic network during this swarm. Summary of Lo`ihi activity reported in the monthly Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network, Smithsonian Institution. All information contained in these reports is preliminary and subject to change. Hawaiian Meaning The name Lo`ihi means "long" in Hawaiian and was introduced in 1955 to describe the elongate shape of the seamount. Lo`ihi Volcano Facts
| Location 18.92 N 155.27 W
Elev. Below Sea Level 969 m 3,180 ft
Volume 660 km3 160 mi3 |
Height Above Sea Floor Lo`ihi is built on the seafloor that slopes about 5 degrees beneath the seamount. Lo`ihi's northern base is 1,900 m below sea level, whereas its southern base is 4,755 m below sea level. Thus, the summit is about 931 m above the seafloor as measured from the base of its north flank and 3,786 m above the seafloor as measured from the base of its south flank. Most Recent Activity Earthquake Swarm (>4,000 events), July 16-August 9, 1996
Hawaiian Volcano Stage In transition between pre-shield and shield stage References:Malahoff, Alexander, 1987, Geology of the summit of Lo`ihi submarine volcano, in Decker, R.W., Wright, T.L., and Stauffer P. H., (eds.), Volcanism in Hawaii: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1350, p. 133-144.The 1996 Lo`ihi Science Team, 1997, Researchers rapidly respond to submarine activity at Lo`ihi volcano, Hawaii: EOS, Transactions, American Geophysical Union, v. 78, no. 22, June 3, 1997, p. 229-233. The URL of this page is http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanoes/loihi/ Contact: hvowebmaster@usgs.gov Updated: 26 March 200 (pnf) |