Evolution of Summit Magma Pressure During the 2018 Caldera Collapse at Kīlauea Volcano

Abstract

We utilized geodetic data from the 16 May to 4 August 2018 caldera collapse sequence to refine the geometries and pressure evolution of two summit reservoirs at Kīlauea volcano: the shallower Halema‘uma‘u (HMM) and deeper South Caldera (SC) reservoirs. We modeled magma reservoirs as pressurized spheroidal cavities and constrained reservoir geometries with Global Positioning System (GPS) and Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar displacements. Inverting high‐rate GPS and borehole tilt time series recovered time‐dependent reservoir pressure changes and caldera ring fault shear stress. During the collapse sequence, the HMM reservoir accommodated episodic, co‐collapse pressure increases of 1.9 MPa (median) and a net 5.8 MPa (median) decrease. Simultaneously, the SC reservoir underwent monotonic depressurization of 6.7 MPa (median). Negligible co‐collapse pressure changes in the SC reservoir imply it was not exclusively supplying magma to the eruption vent. These results provide a coherent view of magma reservoir pressure evolution during the 2018 eruption.