Groundwater microbial communities indicate/reflect/as tracers for geothermal activity on volcanic island
Studies of the effects of volcanic activity on Hawaiian Islands are exceedingly relevant due to the past and current co-eruptions at both Mauna Loa and Kilauea in the last year. The big island of Hawai'i is one of the most seismically monitored volcanic systems in the world, and recent investigations of the Hawaiian Island suggests a widespread subsurface connectivity between volcanoes. Volcanic activity has the potential to input mineral contaminants into groundwater ecosystems, potentially decreasing water quality making people who inhabit volcanic islands particularly vulnerable due to dependence on groundwater aquifers. As part of an interdisciplinary study on groundwater aquifers in Kona, Hawai'i over 40 groundwater wells were sampled quarterly from August 2017 through March 2019, before and after the destructive eruption of the Kilauea east rift zone in May 2018. Sample sites occurred at great distance (~80km) from the active Kilauea volcanic activity allowing us to pose questions of how volcanic groundwater aquifers might be influenced by island surface volcanic activity.