ARTICLES
Trouble in Paradise: Eruptions from Kīlauea Volcano (continued)
This devastation led to President Donald Trump’s declaration of
a “major disaster” on the island.
But Kīlauea is up to its old tricks again, possibly replicating activity
seen last in 1924 which led to a variety of violent and sporadic
explosions, dispersing volcanic ejecta around the summit and
killing one visitor.
The decision to close access to the summit is driven by current
monitoring data, and crucial past experience and knowledge of
Kīlauea’s violent behaviour.
Over the past week the mesmerising convecting lava lake that
has resided at the summit for a decade is no longer. Magma has
evacuated to depths greater than 285m into the deeper magma
plumbing system.
Activity continues on Kilauea’s east rift zone, as a fissure
eruption fountains more than 60 metres into the air, consuming
all in its path., near Pahoa, Hawaii, US, May 6, 2018.
Crucially, residents are safe, but those who have visited Hawai’i
or with similar experiences of destructive natural hazard events
will be sad to see pictures of this devastation.
At the same time, and away from the current eruption on the flank
of Kīlauea, another crisis is unfolding at the volcano’s summit.
Kīlauea Volcano hosts the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park at its
summit, which is now closed to all visitors because of the hazard.
The summit lava lake has dropped significantly over the past
few days. On May 6 was roughly 220m below the crater rim.
It may seem odd that at a distance of more than 35km from the
active spattering and lava effusion on the eastern flank of the
volcano, volcanic hazards pose such a significant risk to warrant
the closure. The last time that happened – in 1924 – it explosively interacted
with groundwater at depth, producing violent, sporadic eruptions
and a visitor fatality.
Visitors view the eruption plume from the front of the Volcano
House hotel. They were later warned by the Director of the
Observatory, that it was unwise to be there. This block was thrown out during an explosion at Halema‘uma‘u
crater on Kīlauea on May 18, 1924, and landed about
600 metres from today’s rim.
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SCIENCE EDUCATIONAL NEWS VOL 67 NO 2