50 quakes rattle Hawaii volcano in past 24 hours: USGS

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A swarm of at least 50 small-magnitude earthquakes rattled the Mauna Loa volcano on the Big Island in Hawaii, the US Geological Survey reports. National Park Service

A swarm of at least 50 small-magnitude earthquakes rattled the Mauna Loa volcano on the Big Island in Hawaii over the past 24 hours, the US Geological Survey reported Tuesday, Nov. 15th.

All of the quakes were below 3.0 magnitude, geologists said.

Mauna Loa is the world’s biggest active volcano. It is not erupting and there are “no signs of an imminent eruption,” according to geologists.

However, the area is in a state of “heightened unrest” due to the increased earthquake activity and “inflation of the summit,” USGS said. The activity is likely being driven by new magma entering between 2 and 5 miles below the volcano’s summit.

Officials detected the earthquakes 2 to 3 miles below the Mokuʻāweoweo caldera and 4 to 5 miles “beneath the upper-elevation northwest flank of Mauna Loa.” Both regions “have historically been seismically active during periods of unrest on Mauna Loa.”

The volcano has been more active since mid-September, geologists said, though its surface has not shown deformation over the past week.

Magnitude measures the energy released at the source of the earthquake, the US Geological Survey says. It replaces the old Richter scale.

Quakes between 2.5 and 5.4 magnitude are often felt but rarely cause much damage, according to Michigan Tech. Quakes below 2.5 magnitude are seldom felt by most people.

Brooke (she/them) is a McClatchy Real-Time reporter who covers LGBTQ+ news and national parks out west. They studied journalism at the University of Florida, and previously covered LGBTQ+ news for the South Florida Sun Sentinel. When they’re not writing stories, they enjoy hanging out with their cats, riding horses, or spending time outdoors.

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