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Research about Hawaii

Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including Hawaii.

At least 1,099 records · Page 61Linked to original sources

Trackline chart, bathymetric and seismic profiles acquired on R/V Lee Cruise 9-78-HW, near Hawaii

The U.S. Geological Survey research vessel S.P. Lee conducted a transit line from Honolulu, Hawaii to the big island of Hawaii during the cruise L9-78-HW. The navigational track is shown in plate 1 and the three types of data collected (3.5 khz. and 12 khz. bathymetry plus single channel seismic reflection) are shown in plate 2. The bathymetry records are 400 fathoms (one second sweep) collected by hull mounted transducers. The seismic reflection profiles are from a 148in 3 . Bolt Association Airgun* as energy source with reflectors transmitted via single channel streamer towed approximately 500 feet behind ship. Copies of the data may be obtained from the National Geophysical and Solar-Terrestrial Data Center, U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Boulder, Colorado 80303. *Use of commercial names does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

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Water resources data for Hawaii and other Pacific areas, water year 1978: Volume 1. Hawaii

Volume 1 of water resources data for the 1978 water year for Hawaii and other Pacific Areas consist of records of stage, discharge, and water quality of streams; and water levels and water quality in wells and springs. This report contains discharge records for 114 gaging stations; water quality for 11 gaging stations, 98 partial-record flow stations, and 182 wells; and water levels for 25 observation wells. Also included are 106 crest-stage partial-record stations and 18 low-flow partial-record stations. Additional water data were collected at various sites, not part of the systematic data collection program, and are published as miscellaneous measurements. These data represent that part of the National Water Data System operated by the U.S. Geological Survey and cooperating State, Federal, and other agencies in Hawaii.

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Water resources data for Hawaii and other Pacific areas, water year 1978: Volume 2. Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and Northern Mariana Islands

Volume 2 of water resources data for the 1978 water year for other Pacific areas consist of records of stage, discharge, and water quality of streams; stage of a reservoir; and water levels in wells and springs. This report contains discharge records for 44 gaging stations; stage only record for 1 gaging station; water quality for 1 gaging station, 5 partial-record stations; water temperature for 35 gaging stations; and water levels for 6 observation wells. Also included are 37 low-flow partial-record stations. Additional water data were collected at various sites, not part of the systematic data collection program, and are published as miscellaneous measurements. These data represent that part of the National Water Data System operated by the U.S. Geological Survey and cooperating Governments and Federal agencies in other Pacific areas.

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Summary appraisals of the nation's ground-water resources – Hawaii region

The water resources of the Hawaii Region, taken as a whole, are far greater than foreseeable future demands on them, but this is not so for the individual islands. Each and every island is independent with respect to water supply, and the occurrence and availability of water vary widely from island to island. The ground-water resources offer better prospects for supplying additional water needs in the future than the surface-water resources. Most of the surface supplies that are easy to develop have been fully utilized where needed, and conduits and reservoirs necessary to develop new or additional supplies would generally require large and perhaps prohibitive outlays of capital. In 1975, ground water supplied 46 percent, and surface water 54 percent of the water needs but, in the years ahead, these percentages will likely be reversed as more ground-water development takes place. Total water use, in 1975, averaged about 1,775 million gallons per day, ofwhich about 810 million gallons per day was ground water. The total water use is divided into public supply, 11 percent; self-supplied industrial use, 23 percent; and agricultural, 66 percent. Rainfall is the principal source of ground-water recharge. Local mean annual rainfall ranges from less than 20 inches to more than 300 inches, with the annual average rainfall on the large islands exposed to the trade winds being slightly more than 73 inches and that on the small islands situated in the rain shadow of the larger islands being less than 26 inches. Ground-water recharge has been estimated at about 2,400 billion gallons per year (6.5 billion gallons per day) or roughly 30 percent of the rainfall. Most fresh ground water in the region is stored below sea level in porous lava flows, much of it as basal-water lenses floating on saline ground water, as distinguished from dike-impounded water in the interior of the islands. The basal-water lens is maintained by recharge, which, if reduced, leads to thinning of the lens and subsequent encroachment of seawater. Seawater is the biggest pollutant of freshwater, and many of the ground-water problems are, in some way, associated with the encroachment of saline water induced by development. The major problem areas include the entire island of Oahu, south Kohala-Kona coast on the island of Hawaii, Lahaina District in Maui, and the Koloa and Kekaha-Mana areas in Kauai.

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Water resources data for Hawaii and other Pacific areas, water year 1977: Volume 1. Hawaii

Volume 1 of water resources data for the 1977 water year for Hawaii and other Pacific Areas consist of records of stage, discharge, and water quality of streams; and water levels and water quality in wells and springs. This report contains discharge records for 114 gaging stations; water quality for 10 gaging stations, 102 partial-record flow stations and 155 wells; and water levels for 25 observation wells. Also included are 108 crest-stage partial-record stations and 20 low-flow partial-record stations. Additional water data were collected at various sites, not part of the systematic data collection program, and are published as miscellaneous measurements. These data represent that part of the National Water Data System operated by the U.S. Geological Survey and cooperating State, Federal, and other agencies in Hawaii.

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Water resources data for Hawaii and other Pacific areas, water year 1977: Volume 2. Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and Northern Mariana Islands

Volume 2 of water resources data for the 1977 water year for other Pacific areas consist of records of stage, discharge, and water temperature; stage of a reservoir; and water levels in wells and springs. This report contains discharge records for 42 gaging stations; stage only record for 1 gaging station; water temperature for 26 gaging stations; and water levels for 13 observation wells. Also included are 56 low-flow partial-record stations. Additional water data were collected at various sites, not part of the systematic data collection program, and are published as miscellaneous measurements. These data represent that part of the National Water Data System operated by the U.S. Geological Survey and cooperating Governments and Federal agencies in other Pacific areas.

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Revised age for Midway volcano, Hawaiian volcanic chain

New conventional K-Ar, 40 Ar/ 39 Ar, and petrochemical data on alkalic basalt pebbles from the basalt conglomerate overlying tholeiitic flows in the Midway drill hole show that Midway evolved past the tholeiitic shield-building stage and erupted lavas of the alkalic suite 27.0 ± 0.6m.y. ago. The data also show that previously published conventional K-Ar ages on altered samples of tholeiite are too young by about 9 m.y. These results remove a significant anomaly in the age-distance relationships of the Hawaiian chain and obviate the need for large changes in either the rate of rotation of the Pacific plate about the Hawaiian pole or the motion of the plate relative to the Hawaiian hot spot since the time of formation of the Hawaiian-Emperor bend. All of the age data along the Hawaiian chain are now reasonably consistent with an average rate of volcanic propagation of 8.0 cm/yr and with 0.83°/m.y. of angular rotation about the Hawaiian pole.

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Distribution of injected wastewater in the saline-lava aquifer, Wailuku-Kahului wastewater treatment facility, Kahului, Maui, Hawaii

Field studies and digital modeling of a lava rock aquifer system near Kahului, Maui, Hawaii, were employed to define and describe the distribution of planned injected wastewater from a secondary treatment facility. The lava rock aquifer contains water that is almost as saline as seawater. The saline water is below a seaward-discharging freshwater lens, and separated from it by a transition zone of varying salinity. Injection of wastewater at an average rate of 6.2 cubic feet per second is planned through wells open only to the aquifer deep within the saline water zone. The lava rock aquifer is overlain by a sequence of residual soil, clay, coral reef deposits, and marine sand that form a low-permeability caprock which semiconfines the lava rock aquifer. A two-dimensional finite-difference model was used to describe initial conditions within the freshwater part of the aquifer, and to indicate response of the freshwater part of the system to injection of wastewater. Steady-state distribution of the wastewater within the saline and the freshwater parts of the lava rock aquifer was simulated by use of a three-dimensional finite-difference model. This model, using vertical-to-horizontal ratios of hydraulic conductivity of 1:10 and 1:100, shows that wastewater with a lesser density than that of either the saline or freshwater aquifer, will form a roughly cylindrical column around the injection well base and rise through the transition zones into the freshwater lens flow system. The column diameter varies with the ratio, and the column, or plume, widens progressively through the transition zone, then maintains virtually constant size through the freshwater part of the lava rock aquifer. Seaward flow within the freshwater lens tends to distort the plume seaward. Under conditions measured and assumed for the study, it is evident that wastewater injected at the planned rate will move upward, then seaward without significant change. After reaching a new steady state, the wastewater will discharge into and through the caprock sequence within an area measuring approximately 1,000 feet inland, 1,000 feet laterally on either side of the injection site, and about 2,000 feet seaward. Little, if any, of the injected wastewater may be expected to reach the upper part of the caprock flow system landward of the treatment plant facility.

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Summary of results from electromagnetic and galvanic soundings on Kilauea Iki lava lake, Hawaii

The purpose of this report is to summarize various electrical sounding studies made on the Kilauea Iki lava lake and to present some of the preliminary interpretations that resulted from the measurements. The following discussion is not intended as a complete interpretation, but is intended to summarize the major points made in an invited oral presentation at the American Geophysical Union fall meeting held in San Francisco, Calif. on December 6, 1976. This paper was part of a group of papers dealing with various geophysical studies recently made on the Kilauea Iki lava lake. A general plan map of Kilauea Iki lava lake is shown in figure 1. Electromagnetic (EM) loop-loop soundings, D.C. resistivity soundings, and VLF apparent resistivity measurements were made on the lave lake surface. All of these surveys were made to determine the geoelectric structure of the lava lake and to determine parameters of the molten basaltic lens that exist in the partially solidified lava lake.

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Mapping the lateral boundaries of a cooling basaltic lava lake, Kilauea Iki, Hawaii

Two types of electromagnetic (EM) profiling techniques were used to delineate the surface projection of the edges of the still-molten basaltic lava lens that exists in Kilauea Iki Crater, Hawaii. These studies were made as part of an intensive geophysical program aimed at defining the overall configuration of the liquid core and the attendant hydrothermal fluids. The results of the profiling studies were presented orally at the Annual Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union held in San Francisco, Calif., December 6, 1976. This report summarizes in more detail the techniques, results, and some conclusions related to the EM profiling studies. The complete results of an intensive VLF study made by L. A. Anderson (U.S. Geol. Survey, oral communication, 1976) will be presented in a separate report. Only a few of these results are discussed here.

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Water resources data for Hawaii and other Pacific areas, water year 1976

Water resources data for the 1976 water year for Hawaii and other Pacific Areas consist of records of stage, discharge, and water quality of streams; stage of a reservoir; and water levels and water quality in wells and springs. This report contains discharge records for 158 gaging stations; stage only record for 1 gaging station; water quality for 10 gaging stations, 108 partial-record flow stations and 144 wells; and water levels for 25 observation wells. Also included are 107 crest-stage partial-record stations and 109 low-flow partial-record stations. Additional water data were collected at various sites, not part of the systematic data collection program, and are published as miscellaneous measurements. These data represent that part of the National Water Data System operated by the U. S. Geological Survey and cooperating State, Territorial, and Federal agencies in Hawaii and other Pacific areas.

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Earthquakes and related catastrophic events, Island of Hawaii, November 29, 1975: A preliminary report

The largest earthquake in over a century--magnitude 7.2 on the Richter Scale--struck Hawaii the morning of November 29, 1975, at 0448. It was centered about 5 km beneath the Kalapana area on the southeastern coast of the island at 19° 20.1 ' N., long 155° 01.4 ' W.). The earthquake was preceded by numerous foreshocks, the largest of which was a 5.7-magnitude jolt at 0336 the same morning, and was accompanied, or closely followed, by a tsunami seismic sea wave), massive ground movements, hundreds of aftershocks, and a volcanic eruption. The tsunami reached a height of 12.2-14.6 m above sea level on the southeastern coast about 25 km west of the earthquake center, elsewhere generally 8 m or less. The south flank of Kilauea Volcano, which forms the southeastern part of the island, was deformed by dislocations along old and new faults along a 25-km long zone. Downward and seaward fault displacements resulted in widespread subsidence, locally as much as 3.5 m, leaving coconut palms standing in the sea and nearly submerging a small, near-shore island. A brief, small-volume volcanic eruption, triggered by the earthquake and associated ground movements occurred at Kilauea's summit about three-quarters of an hour later. The earthquake, together with the tsunami it generated, locally caused severe property damage in the southeastern part of the island; the tsunami also caused two deaths. Damage from the earthquake and related catastrophic events is estimated by the Hawaii Civil Defense Agency at about $4.1 million. The 1975 Kalapana earthquake and accompanying events represent the latest events in a recurring pattern of behavior for Kilauea. A large earthquake of about the same magnitude, tsunami, subsidence, and eruption occurred at Kilauea in 1868, and a less powerful earthquake and similar related processes are believed to have occurred in 1823. Indeed, the geologic evidence suggests that such events have been repeated many times in Kilauea's past and will continue. The 1975 events serve as a critical, though tragic, reminder of the dynamic nature of the volcano and point up the need for careful land-use planning and adequate building codes to minimize damage and loss of life from similar events in the future. Detailed scientific study of the cause and effects of the November 29, 1975, event will take many months. This report summarizes information available in February 1976.

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Elements needed in design of a ground-water quality monitoring network in the Hawaiian Islands

The elements needed in the design of a ground-water-quality monitoring network in the Hawaiian Islands are described and summarized. The elements are given by geohydrologic units which represent areas where there are similarities in the occurrence of ground water or in the geology pertinent to the occurrence of ground water. The goal is to establish a network of observation points to inventory and maintain surveillance of existing and potential sources of pollution of ground wazer. Of principal concern to Hawaii's environment is pollution of the potable ground-water supplies and of the near-shore recreational waters, the latter by the discharge of polluted ground water. Existing monitoring efforts, although intensive in many areas, are not adequate because they are geared more toward detection and surveillance of pollutants in the conveyances of ground water instead of in the sources of ground water, and also in the monitoring of extensive nonpoint sources of pollution instead of from discrete point sources.

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