[Rockhounds] Almost two centuries of lava chemistry reveal Kīlauea, Mauna Loa share magma source

[Kreigh Tomaszewski]

Using a nearly 200-year record of lava chemistry from Kīlauea and Mauna Loa
on the Big Island, scientists from University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and their
colleagues revealed that Hawaiʻi’s two most active volcanoes share a magma
source within the Hawaiian plume.

Their discovery was published in the Journal of Petrology
<https://academic.oup.com/petrology/article/65/12/egae121/7902988>.

“In the past, the distinct chemical compositions of lavas from Kīlauea and
Mauna Loa were thought to require completely separate magma pathways from
the melt source in the mantle beneath each volcano to the surface where
eruptions take place,” said Aaron Pietruszka, lead author of the study and
associate professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University
of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology. “Our
latest research shows that this is incorrect. Melt from a shared mantle
source within the Hawaiian plume may be transported alternately to Kīlauea
or Mauna Loa on a timescale of decades.”

https://bigislandnow.com/2025/01/29/almost-two-centuries-of-lava-chemistry-reveal-kilauea-mauna-loa-share-magma-source/