Kilauea, Hawaii Volcano A Volcano That Made America
Written and Edited by Weiss Yuan
Basic Volcano Information
Volcano Name: Kilauea (kiːlaʊˈeɪ./) Volcano or Mount Kilauea
City, Town, and State: Pahoa, Kilauea, Hawaii
Country: United States of America
Continent: North America
Plate Location: Pacific Plate
Exact Location: 19.42215° N, -155.2964° E
Map of where Volcano is Located:
Special Facts
The Kilauea Volcano, or Mount Kilauea is a shield volcano located in a crater 3,646 ft (1,111 m) deep.
Mount Kilauea is on the southeastern slope of Mauna Loa, another Hawaian Volcano.
Kilauea is one of largest active craters in the world, has a circumference of 8 mi (13 km) and is surrounded by a wall of volcanic rock 200 to 500 ft (61—152 m) high.
Kilauea is also the youngest volcano in Hawaii. In its floor is Halemaumau, a fiery pit. The usual level of the lake of molten lava is c.740 ft (230 m) below the pit's rim. The oldest dated rock is about 23,000 years old and the oldest eruption of Kilauea was about 300,000-600,000 years ago.
Kilauea was formed under a hot spot under the crust. So were the other volcanoes on the Big Island such as Kohala, Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa, and Hualalai. There have been 34 eruptions since 1952 and 61 eruptions total. In early 1973, an earthquake occurred that caused Kilauea to stop erupting and instead erupt near the craters Pauahi and Hi'iaka.
Current eruption began January 3, 1983 and is called Pu'u'O'o.
Hawaii, nicknamed 'Big Island' because of it's 8 major volcanoes, is currently 4038 square miles (approx. 6 500 square km ) and grows around 42 acres every year thanks to all of Mount Kilauea's eruptions.
Mount Kilauea is one of 5 active volcanoes in Hawaii, others are Loihi, Mauna Loa, Hualalai and Haleakala.
Mount Kilauea Volcano is home of Fire Goddess, Pele.
Plate Tectonic Section
As you notice from the picture above, you can see that the Volcanoes of Kilauea, Hawaii are in the middle of the Pacific Plate, thus not able to be created by plate and their movement. The way that these volcanoes form is that they are created by a Hot Spot on the middle of a Pacific Plate.
Hot Spots
A volcano hot spot is when the heat from the magma under the earth's surface rises as a thermal plume and melts the earth's surface and then creating an erupting volcano. Then as the tectonic plates move away the process starts over again, thus creating more and more volcanoes like the chain of Hawaiian volcanoes we are studying here.
Type of Volcano
Kilauea as well as some others which helped form Hawaii are shield volcanoes thus producing lava that flows out instead of having an eruption, which could be deadly. By having the lava flow out in to the sea, it produces more land making Hawaii the size it is today.
Kilauea has a bit flat shape with a small hill on it just like most other shield volcanos. A 2-D Cross-Section is put below.
Type of Lava
Since Mount Kilauea started erupting in 1952, it has produced both Pahoehoe and A'a lava. Early when Hawaii was just forming, Kilauea erupted fountains of lava as tall as 540 meters (1772 ft) high. I early 1973, however, an rare earthquake occurred and caused Kilauea to briefly stop erupting near the original Mauna Ulu site and instead had it erupt near the craters of Pauahi and Hi'iaka. Because Kilauea has had Pahoehoe and A'a, had has pretty quiet eruptions and most of the rocks that form are basalt. Since A'a has thicker lava than Pahoehoe, the eruptions are a bit louder than when Kilauea was erupting Pahoehoe.
Effects
Mount Kilauea has had major effects to our nation and to the entire world. Since Kilauea started erupting, the young volcano has been expanding Hawaii to be a larger and better state of the United States. As of January 2011, the volcano has expanded Hawaii by resurfacing 123.2 square km (48 sq mi) of land and has put 3.5 cubic km (1 cu mi) of lava on earth's surface.
However, the effects of Kilauea aren't all good. The very active volcano of Hawaii has destroyed more than 200 structures including the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park visitor center, the Royal Gardens subdivision and many homes and buildings in the town of Kalapana.
Lava flows destroyed 181 residences, several community centers, and one commercial site, all within the first eight years of the eruption. Eight miles of highway have been covered by flows during the past 14 years. These losses are estimated at $61 million.
The main town nearby is only Pahoa and life there is mostly normal because the eruptions are quiet, but the villagers do have to careful of slow lava flowing nearby.
Many legends are listed at the top in the special facts section. There have been 34 eruptions since 1952 and 61 eruptions total. In early 1973, an earthquake occurred that caused Kilauea to stop erupting and instead erupt near the craters Pauahi and Hi'iaka.
The last eruption has been said to be 1983 and the eruption has never stopped.
History
Bibliography
(Please note citations are in order of picture; from top to bottom and left to right)
Pictures and Information
1. "Kīlauea." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 03 May 2016.
2. "In Search of Mordor ~ Look Upon The Very Fires Of Mount Doom!" Mordor The Land of Shadow. Web. 06 May 2016.
3. Padilla, Michael J., Carole Garbuny. Vogel, Ioannis Miaoulis, Martha Cyr, and Michael Wysession. Prentice Hall Science Explorer: Inside Earth. Needham, MA: Pearson Prentice Hill, 2005. Print.
4. "Hawaiian Volcanism." Hawaiian Volcanism. Web. 6 May 2016.
5. "Mount Kilauea." Facts. Web. 6 May 2016.
6. "NASA Is Tossing Robots into Hawaii's Volcanoes." Inhabitat Green Design Innovation Architecture Green Building. Web. 6 May 2016.
7. "Photo Gallery of the East Rift Zone of Kilauea Volcano, Hawai`i." Photo Gallery of the East Rift Zone of Kilauea Volcano, Hawai`i. Web. 6 May 2016.
8. "Plate Tectonics and the Hawaiian Hot Spot." Plate Tectonics and the Hawaiian Hot Spot. Web. 6 May 2016.
9. "Historical Eruptions of Kilauea Volcano." Historical Eruptions of Kilauea Volcano. Web. 10 May 2016.