January 2012 will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the United States Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, located on the rim of Kīlauea Volcano’s summit caldera. Hawaiian eruptions are generally non-explosive and can be observed and studied with relative safety, allowing scientists and geologist to better understand eruptive processes and products and providing tourists unforgettable memories. Over geologic time, volcanic activity, in Hawaii and elsewhere in the world, has created and shaped more than eighty percent of the Earth’s surface, above and below the sea.
One of the world's most active volcanoes, Kilauea began a long-term eruption from the east rift zone in 1983. It is one of five coalescing volcanoes that comprise the island of Hawaii and is also the youngest. Eruptions at Kilauea originate primarily from the summit caldera or along one of the long east and south rift zones that extend from the caldera to the sea. According to Discovery News, a new assessment of Kilauea's activity suggests that the volcano may simply be in a lull between violent eruptions. Discovery cites carbon dating of the old eruptions as an indication that "the volcano was explosive for 60 percent of the past 2,500 years. It just happens to be in one of its more peaceful, lava-flow stages at the moment."
Despite this peaceful lull the shield volcano did manage to erupt with a surge of lava that reached eighty feet into the air this past May, 2011. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park closed the Chain of Craters Road (major tourism and hiking hot spot) all east rift zone and coastal trails during the event. It managed to leave a new 1.4 mile gash along the east rift zone. The United States Geological Survey has kept up a live webcam stream of the eruption and the volcanoes current status which remains viewable on their website.
Despite this peaceful lull the shield volcano did manage to erupt with a surge of lava that reached eighty feet into the air this past May, 2011. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park closed the Chain of Craters Road (major tourism and hiking hot spot) all east rift zone and coastal trails during the event. It managed to leave a new 1.4 mile gash along the east rift zone. The United States Geological Survey has kept up a live webcam stream of the eruption and the volcanoes current status which remains viewable on their website.
Hawaiian authorities allow thousands of visitors each year to hike closely to the Kilauea volcano's lava streams that feed into the sea. Don Swanson, a geologist with the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, has referred to Kilauea as a high-risk area. “Though the explosions may be smaller, there are a lot more people in the area, so the risk is very high,” he reportedly told a news conference Tuesday at the annual fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. “So we have to be very concerned."An eruption in 1790 that killed several hundred people makes Kilauea the deadliest volcano active in the United States. Several homes have been destroyed recently in the Royal Gardens district with currently only one resident remaining.
The Hawaiian volcano chain remains the most active in the world currently and is of immense interest and research for many geologist, vulcanists, and scientist. I believe that Kilauea's lull in explosive eruptions is a great opportunity for the study of the earths mantle and crust development that can be seen and studied physically not just in theory. Being able to interact with our environment whether by hiking along its lava flows or studying it firsthand is an amazing gift we must take advantage of.
Sources:
http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/kilauea/http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=2820
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/weird-wide-web/hawaii-travel-active-volcano-kilauea-killer-mount-st-helens
http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/11120225-lava-fingerprinting-reveals-differences-between-hawaii-twin-volcanoes.html
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