Submarine landslides and volcanic features on Kohala and Mauna Kea volcanoes and the Hana Ridge, Hawaii

Abstract

The deep submarine eastern flanks of Mauna Kea, Kohala, and Haleakala volcanoes were mapped for the first time with a multibeam bathymetric and sidescan sonar system during joint Japan-US cruises aboard the JAMSTEC vessel R/V Yokosuka in 1999. The Pololu slump off northeast Kohala is overlain by a carbonate platform in the shallow region and the deeper areas are incised by downslope oriented channels. It is cut by several faults and slump scars and appears to override an older slide located farther east, here named the Laupahoehoe slump. The structures characteristic of the Laupahoehoe slump are NW-SE oriented scarp-and-bench topographic features analogous to the Hilina slump on the mobile SE flank of Kilauea. Enclosed basins lie at 3000-5000 m, fronted by ridges on their seaward sides. The basins may result from local rotational slumps or from uplift above discontinuous thrust faults. The Laupahoehoe slump appears to be overlapped by shield margins of both Kohala and Mauna Kea and thus may have been derived from an elongate Kohala edifice. A large debris apron continues from the base of the two-slide complex, abutting the distal Hana Ridge (Haleakala east rift zone). The tip of the Hana Ridge displays a curious steepsided arcuate rift tip that resembles the classic amphitheater scarp of a landslide. Numerous flat-topped volcanic domes are distributed along the broad crest of the lower rift zone. Similar cones, though fewer in number, are also present on the Hilo Ridge, which may be the continuation of a Kohala rift zone.