Intrusive dike complexes, cumulate cores, and the extrusive growth of Hawaiian volcanoes

Authors

Ashton F. Flinders, University of Rhode Island
Garrett Ito
Michael O. Garcia
John M. Sinton
Jim Kauahikaua
Brian Taylor

Document Type

Article

Date of Original Version

2013

Department

Oceanography

Abstract

The Hawaiian Islands are the most geologically studied hot‐spot islands in the world yet surprisingly, the only large‐scale compilation of marine and land gravity data is more than 45 years old. Early surveys served as reconnaissance studies only, and detailed analyses of the crustal‐density structure have been limited. Here we present a new chain‐wide gravity compilation that incorporates historical island surveys, recently published work on the islands of Hawai‘i, Kaua‘i, and Ni‘ihau, and >122,000 km of newly compiled marine gravity data. Positive residual gravity anomalies reflect dense intrusive bodies, allowing us to locate current and former volcanic centers, major rift zones, and a previously suggested volcano on Ka‘ena Ridge. By inverting the residual gravity data, we generate a 3‐D view of the dense, intrusive complexes and olivine‐rich cumulate cores within individual volcanoes and rift zones. We find that the Hāna and Ka‘ena ridges are underlain by particularly high‐density intrusive material (>2.85 g/cm³) not observed beneath other Hawaiian rift zones. Contrary to previous estimates, volcanoes along the chain are shown to be composed of a small proportion of intrusive material (<30% by volume), implying that the islands are predominately built extrusively.

Citation/Publisher Attribution

Flinders, A. F., G. Ito, M. O. Garcia, J. M. Sinton, J. Kauahikaua, and B. Taylor (2013), Intrusive dike complexes, cumulate cores, and the extrusive growth of Hawaiian volcanoes, Geophys. Res. Lett., 40, 3367–3373 doi: 10.1002/grl.50633.

Available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/grl.50633