By Dave Corrigan and Stephanie Salazar

MAUNA KEA, Hawaii: In today’s Mauna Kea report, a 4.5 magnitude earthquake jolted Hawaii Island around 2:10 p.m. on Wednesday.

The U.S. Geological Survey says the earthquake was the largest in a cluster of about 20 earthquakes on the north flank of Mauna Kea on Wednesday afternoon – about 6 miles northwest of the summit and 11 and a half miles down.

The USGS says most of these aftershocks were too small to be felt, but, as of 3:30 p.m., two earthquakes with magnitudes greater than 3.0 had occurred in addition to the magnitude-4.5 event.

The earthquake was widely felt on the Island of Hawai’i. The USGS “Did you feel it?” Web site received more than 500 felt reports within an hour of the earthquake.

Following the earthquake and its many aftershocks, the Hawaii County Civil Defense issued this message to local media.

The USGS says that over the past 25 years, the north flank of Mauna Kea has experienced 10 earthquakes greater than magnitude 4.0, including Wednesday’s event, at depths of 6 to 25 miles. Deep earthquakes in this region are most likely caused by structural adjustments within the Earth’s crust due to the heavy load of Mauna Kea.

Adjustments beneath Mauna Kea during past similar events, such as in March 2010, have produced a flurry of earthquakes, with many small aftershocks occurring for days after the main quake. Geologists say that given this history, it is possible that additional small earthquakes may be recorded in the coming days.

Today’s earthquakes caused no detectable changes on the continuing eruption of Kilauea Volcano.