A. Yin et Tk. Kelty, An elastic wedge model for the development of coeval normal and thrust faulting in the Mauna Loa-Kilauea rift system in Hawaii, J GEO R-SOL, 105(B11), 2000, pp. 25909-25925
A long-standing enigma of the Mauna Loa-Kilauea rift system in Hawaii is th
e coeval development of normal and thrust faults that are vertically partit
ioned. To address this question, we developed a simple elastic wedge model
that explores plausible boundary conditions in terms of tractions for gener
ating such a fault pattern. Analytical solutions that best simulate the obs
erved faulting style and geodetically determined strain at the surface requ
ire that (1) the pore fluid pressure ratio within the wedge (lambda) and al
ong the basal decollement (lambda (b)) must be exceedingly high (i.e., lamb
da = lambda (b) = 0.90-0.95) and (2) a tensile stress of the order of 10-30
MPa must have existed in the very top part of the rift zone at the back si
de of the wedge-shaped rift flank. The high pore fluid pressure within the
rift flank may be induced by pumping of fluids during emplacement of magma,
whereas the high pore fluid pressure along the basal decollement may be ca
used by compaction of water-saturated sediments between the volcanic pile a
bove and the oceanic floor below. Although the predicted tensile stress in
the rift zone could be related to the presence of a relatively steep topogr
aphic slope, our results show that this is not a prerequisite. Therefore we
attribute occurrence of tensile stress to either upward bending of the Haw
aiian volcanic pile due to emplacement of magma, or inflation of a shallow
magma chamber several kilometers beneath the surface. In any case, the resu
lts of our model indicate that magma emplacement in the shallow part of the
rift zone may be a passive process, while the deep rift zone experiences f
orceful emplacement (i.e., active rifting via magma push).