Hawaii: quakes close the Keanakākoʻi side of Kīlauea

On 1 October, Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park closed the area around Keanakākoʻi crater on the summit of Kīlauea. Overnight, magma opened a new crack under Halemaʻumaʻu crater and did not break the surface at a new vent. The rest of the park stayed open.

The closure covers old Crater Rim Drive, the overlooks at Keanakākoʻi and the Crater Rim Trail to that crater. The Devastation trail parking lot stays open: the closed stretch starts from there.

Shaking began on 30 September at about 2 p.m. Hawaii time, roughly a mile and a half under the active vents. The strongest shock, magnitude 3.4, came at 9:52 p.m. about 1.4 km down. People felt it: the observatory received about 30 reports. In 24 hours it located 98 shallow earthquakes, mostly under Halemaʻumaʻu. A morning flight on 1 October found no new hot ground and no new cracks at the surface. Lava was still deep in the north vent.

Kīlauea has been erupting in episodes inside the caldera since 23 December 2024. The last high lava fountain was on 25 August. The observatory is keeping a heightened watch, with an orange aviation code: the summit is still pressurized, so another fountain or lava at a different spot in the caldera remains possible. By 4 October that overnight movement of magma had not started again, and the east and southwest rift zones were quiet. The rim of Halemaʻumaʻu itself has been closed to people since late 2007. The 4 October update did not say whether the Keanakākoʻi closure had been lifted.