HAWAII’S GEOTHERMAL

Hot Stuff: Magma at Shallow Depth Under Hawaii
December 13, 2010 (Science Daily)

"Ohio State University researchers have found a new way to gauge the depth of the magma chamber that forms the Hawaiian Island volcanic chain, and determined that the magma lies much closer to the surface than previously thought…The finding could help scientists predict when Hawaiian volcanoes are going to erupt. It also suggests that Hawaii holds great potential for thermal energy.

"…For her honors thesis, [Julie Ditkof, an undergraduate in earth sciences at Ohio State,] took a technique that her advisor Michael Barton, professor of earth sciences, developed to study magma in Iceland, and applied it to Hawaii…"

Hawaii is at the heart of the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where geothermal energy is omnipresent. (click to enlarge)

"…[Ditkof] discovered that magma lies an average of 3 to 4 kilometers (about 1.9 to 2.5 miles) beneath the surface of Hawaii…a [more] shallow depth [than] anywhere else in the world…Barton determined that magma chambers beneath Iceland lie at an average depth of 20 kilometers.

"While that means the crust beneath Hawaii is much thinner than the crust beneath Iceland, Hawaiians have nothing to fear…The crust doesn't get consumed by the magma chamber…[but] floats on top…"

There has so far been very little geothermal development in Hawaii. (click to enlarge)

"…[Barton] and Ditkof determined that there is one large magma chamber just beneath the entire island chain that feeds the Hawaiian volcanoes through many different conduits…Researchers could use this…to regularly monitor pressures inside the chamber and make more precise estimates of when eruptions are going to occur…[but,] ultimately, the finding might be more important in terms of energy."

[Barton”] "Hawaii has huge geothermal resources that haven't been tapped fully…[though you would] have to drill some test bore holes. That's dangerous on an active volcano, because then the lava could flow down and wipe out your drilling rig."