Hawaiian Volcano Observatory

1973 Quarterly Administrative reports

Introductory Note By Thomas L. Wright and Jennifer S. Nakata

Compiled By Jennifer S. Nakata

Summary 69

January, February, and March 1973

By Arnold T. Okamura and Robert Y. Koyanagi

Chronological Summary By Donald W. Peterson

Summary 70

April, May, and June 1973

By Robert Y. Koyanagi, Arnold T. Okamura, and Patricia Stevenson

Chronological Summary By Robert I. Tilling 

Summary 71

July, August, and September 1973

By Arnold T. Okamura, Marie S. Onouye, and Akira Yamamoto

Chronological Summary By Robert I. Tilling 

Summary 72

October, November, and December 1973

By Patricia Stevenson, Robert Y. Koyanagi, and Arnold T. Okamura 

Chronological Summary By Robert I. Tilling

Open-File Report 2007-1333

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey
U.S. Department of the Interior

DIRK KEMPTHORNE, Secretary

U.S. Geological Survey

Mark D. Myers, Director

U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia 2007

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INTRODUCTORY NOTE

The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory Summaries have been published in the current format since 1956. The Quarterly 

Summaries (1956 through 1973) and the Annual Summaries (1974 through 1985) were originally published as Administrative Reports. These reports have been compiled and published as U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Reports. 

The quarterly reports have been combined and published as one annual summary. All the summaries from 1956 to 

the present are now available as .pdf files at http://www.usgs.gov/pubprod.

The earthquake summary data are presented as a listing of origin time, depth, magnitude, and other location parameters. Network instrumentation, field station sites, and location algorithms are described. Tilt and other deformation 

data are included until Summary 77, January to December 1977. From 1978, the seismic and deformation data are 

published separately, due to differing schedules of data reduction. 

There are eight quarters—from the fourth quarter of 1959 to the third quarter of 1961—that were never published. 

Two of these (4th quarter 1959, 1st quarter 1960) have now been published, using handwritten notes of Jerry Eaton 

(HVO seismologist at the time) and his colleagues. The seismic records for the remaining six summaries went back to 

California in 1961 with Jerry Eaton. Other responsibilities intervened, and the seismic summaries were never prepared.

Chronology

The following Kïlauea eruption chronology covers the two recent reports and the six missing quarters:

Location Beginning Date Ending Date Comment

Kïlauea Iki crater (Kïlauea’s summit) 11/14/1959 12/20/1959 19 eruptive episodes

Kapoho (lower east rift zone) 1/13/1960 2/18/1960 4 eruption stages

Halemaumau (Kïlauea’s summit) 2/24/1961 2/24/1961 Intermittent activity during 

uninterrupted inflation following the 1960 eruption

Halemaumau (Kïlauea’s summit) 3/22/1961 3/25/1961 Same as above.

Halemaumau (Kïlauea’s summit) 7/10/1961 7/17/1961 Same as above.

Heiheiahulu (middle east rift zone) 9/22/1961 9/25/1961 First historical east rift eruption at this location

The 1959-1960 eruptions were among two of the most spectacular Kïlauea eruptions. The HVO staff was kept busy 

with acquisition of unusually high quantities of instrumental data and observations of the two sequences, which 

were separated by less than one month. Even with a year’s interval before the beginning of the summit-east rift sequence in 1961, the staff never caught up, and the seismic records were set aside for later study. 

A total of 1,672 earthquakes—1,106 for 1960 and 566 for 1961—are part of HVO’s cataloged database. The annual 

listings have been appended to the 1st Quarter Report of 1960 and to the 4th Quarter Report for 1961. The number of 

earthquakes is probably low, biased toward the larger magnitudes. The entire HVO catalog, including 1960 and 1961, 

is accessible from the ANSS CATALOG SEARCH site at http://www.ncedc.org/anss/catalog-search.

 Thomas L. Wright and Jennifer S. Nakata