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Lava flows from Kīlauea volcano’s Puʻu ʻOʻo Crater. (Photo courtesy USGS)

A new study, which appears in the November issue of Nature Geoscience, finds that a deep connection about 50 miles below Earth’s surface can explain the enigmatic behavior of two of the world’s most notable volcanoes, Hawaiʻi’s Mauna Loa and Kīlauea.

The research was conducted by scientists with the Hawaiʻi Institute of Geophysics and Planetology in the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, along with colleagues at Rice University, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Carnegie Institution of Washington.

Their findings offer the first plausible model that can explain both the opposing long-term eruptive patterns at Mauna Loa and Kīlauea—when one is active, the other is quiet, and vice versa—as well as the episode in 2003-2007 when GPS records showed that both inflated concurrently.

Read the news release or learn more about the study as featured by Big Island Video News, Civil Beat, Hawaii News Now, Honolulu Star-Advertiser (subscription required), PhysOrg, and RedOrbit.

UH in the News for October 19–25, 2012

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