Meeting Description

Basaltic caldera-forming rift eruptions represent an underappreciated hazard for many global communities, but also an opportunity to better understand some of Earth’s most active volcanoes. A handful of these eruptions have been documented globally in the last half-century, including at Miyakejima (Japan), Piton de la Fournaise (La Réunion), Bárðarbunga (Iceland), and most recently at Kīlauea (Hawai‘i). Kīlauea’s 2018 eruption was documented in remarkable detail and was its most impactful in centuries, involving more than one cubic kilometer of basaltic lava flows, a magnitude ~7 flank earthquake, and a major summit collapse. Observations from Kīlauea and other global historical eruptions offer an unprecedented opportunity to understand calderas and associated rift systems and the dynamics of their interplay, but a community-driven synthesis has been lacking, and numerous fundamental scientific questions remain. We will gather in Hawaiʻi to assess current understanding, share insights, and map out work on critical outstanding questions. Resulting insights should prove valuable when the next large basaltic caldera collapse takes place somewhere on Earth.