June 15 (UPI) — A large earthquake struck the summit of Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano for the fourth day in a row on Thursday morning.
The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said a small explosion occurred at 3:19 a.m. and produced a lava plume which rose 6,000 feet above sea level.
“This event and many of its precursory earthquakes were felt widely in the Volcano area,” the observatory said.
The largest quake to strike the summit measured at a magnitude of 5.3 at around 3:20 a.m, but didn’t produce enough force to generate a tsunami, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.
It was the fourth consecutive day in which an earthquake above magnitude 5.0, all of which were triggered by explosive eruptions.
“So as long as the summit explosions continue, there likely will be earthquakes and ground shaking associated with the explosion,” Alex Demas of the U.S. Geological Survey said.
Lava fountains from Fissure 8 reached heights of 200 feet and lava continued to flow through the channel to the ocean at Kapoho. Volcanic gas emissions from Fissure 8 also remained very high after doubling over the past two weeks, the observatory said.
Fissures 16 and 18 also continued to ooze lava.
