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Kilauea Erupting
Lava + Water = New Land
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The active volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii has been erupting nonstop for 20 years. Kilauea and the other volcanoes in Hawaii's active volcanic history are different then what you think of as a typical volcano. Unlike Mt. St. Helens Kilauea does not erupt explosively. Kilauae instead has eruptions that just flow out of the crack with minimum explosion and pressure. This is why it has been able to flow nonstop for several years without causing tons of amounts of damage. While these types of volcanoes known as shield volcanoes do cause damage because of where Kilauae is located and the fact that the natives are smart enough to try to stay out of its way the damage is minimum. This type of flow also slowly creates new land which increases the size of the island. The lava while occasionally flows on top of the old lava the top layer cools quickly due to the fact that there is a large difference between the tempetures of the air and the lava. The outer layer cools and forms an insulative barrier for the rest of the lava which allows it to flow farther while cooling slower. These tubes flow all the way to the edge of the island, where the land meets the water. The lava poors out of the holes and into the water. The lava cools almost instantly and solidifies effectively building new land. This new land increases the size of the island and because the volcano is still erupting it keeps expanding.
While visitng the area of the flow we walked out to where you could more easily see the lava enter the water. This is a very cool site and if you look in the background of the group picture on the bottom of the homepage you can sorta see what it looks like. The lava we where standing on while hard on the surface just a few inches to feet down the lava was still liquid and you could feel the heat coming off of it. If you stood in one place to long the heat coming from the rock would begin to melt the sole of your shoe, you had to keep moving. We also had to be careful as we were crossing the lava at night because the terain was extremly rough and the lava is really sharp because when it cools quickly it forms what is known as obsideion which is a super cooled liquid ie: glass. The top layer of lava was nothing more than black glass. We went at night so we could more easily see the lava entering the lava. It is quite a site. You could hear the lava sizzling as it heat the water. It was great. .
Here are a list of links to visit for more information on the formation of the islands and the differnt types of volcanoes.
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Website Administrators: Amber Williams
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Daniel Hawkins
Geology Faculty Advisor: Andrew Wulff Ph.D
