Hawaiian Volcanoes National Park. Kilauea Volcano in the Hawaiian Islands: description, interesting facts

Mauna Loa is the largest volcano on Earth. It is located at an altitude of over 4 km above sea level, and its long underwater slopes descend to the seabed for an additional 5 km. This huge volcano covers half of one of the Hawaiian Islands.

Ancient, large and very active

Mauna Loa is one of Earth's most active volcanoes, having erupted 33 times since its first well-documented historical eruption in 1843. The last time this happened was in 1984. Its area is more than 5 thousand square kilometers. The approximate time of the first ancient suberal eruptions is about 400-700 million years ago.

Where is the largest volcano in the world?

Mauna Loa, or "long mountain" in Hawaiian, is located on the island of Hawaii. This is one of the most active volcanoes on Earth. This is a really high and large mountain, occupying half of the island on which it is located. The Mauna Loa volcano is composed primarily of a type of rock known as tholeiitic basalt.

First mention

The earliest written record of Mauna Loa's eruption dates back to 1780, shortly after Captain Cook's first visit to the island. The lava flow observed in 1855-1856 is one of the largest flows ever seen. In 1868, an eruption and earthquake in Hawaii were officially documented, measuring magnitude 8 by modern standards.

Famous shield volcano

The Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii is called a shield volcano. And there are certain reasons for this. In shape it is a relatively long, flat and low volcano. This is because when an eruption occurs, the lava does not explode outwards, which would gradually form a steep, cone-shaped volcano over time, but emits streams that drain a vast area. Does this make the volcano less dangerous? Such seepage can also be quite destructive. Streams running down a slope can cause irreparable harm to both a person and their property in a matter of hours. So, in 1950, an eruption destroyed a nearby village and a local highway.

The volcano continues to grumble

A number of earthquakes were recorded in 2016, but this is nothing unusual. This is the norm for this area. And the location of Mauna Loa is closely monitored today because Hawaii is a popular vacation destination and no one wants to be caught off guard by a volcanic eruption. The area is a great place for tourists.

One of five volcanoes in the Hawaiian Islands

On the Hawaiian Islands, where the Mauna Loa volcano is located, there are 4 more volcanoes, two of which have not shown signs of activity for a long time. The most frightening thing is that it is very difficult to predict where the next eruption will take place, both in terms of timing and the danger zone. Therefore, just in case, a special evacuation center was created. Although Mauna Loa is not explosive and does not produce large amounts of debris or ash clouds when it erupts, its lava flows can still pose a major threat.

Climate Features

The impressive ancient volcano was, and continues to be, an active force in shaping both the Hawaiian landscape and its culture. His restless disposition and presence in general have a great influence on the climate of these places. Winds blow from east to west across the island.

The eastern half of the volcano is characterized by frequent rainfall and lush tropical vegetation.

The western side of Mauna Loa (a photo of it can be seen in the article) is much drier and has less flora and fauna. Higher in the mountains, the temperature drops, and from time to time you can see snow and ice build-up.

Mythology

The native people of the ancient Hawaiian Islands were inspired by Mauna Loa and viewed it with fear and admiration. It's not surprising that some of the most popular and enduring Hawaiian myths involve volcanic activity.

The Hawaiian goddess Pele was a fierce and fiery woman who was revered and feared. She represented fire, lightning, violence and, most importantly, volcanic eruptions.

According to legend, the goddess Pele lived in a crater on the top of Mauna Loa, from where she controlled all natural processes.

Statues and altars were built in her honor on the slopes of the majestic volcano, and people offered sacrifices and prayers to her to appease the deity and prevent the fire from destroying their homes and villages.

This attitude is still felt in Hawaii today, people still have awe and great respect for Mauna Loa.

While the beautiful sandy beaches attract tourists to Hawaii, true travelers go a little further inland to see the equally spectacular volcanoes. And none of them are as big as Mauna Loa.

Exciting excursion to the volcano

Most of Mauna Loa is located in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, where everyone can easily take some excellent photos. But the hike to the very top of the volcano, which usually takes about two grueling days, is only possible for experienced tourists. The park is always open, but the path to Mauna Loa is sometimes closed for safety reasons.

In the vicinity of the volcano, many towns and villages were built and continue to be built. They are based on lava that has been erupting for the last two hundred years. And this is despite the fact that there is a fairly high probability of repeated eruptions, which can lead to the total destruction of nearby settlements.

Hawaii is on fire - the Kilauea volcano has not stopped erupting on the Big Island since the beginning of May. Due to seismic activity, another 13 volcanoes that surround the archipelago may wake up. Now you can not only fly near Hawaii (volcano ash can get into airplane engines), but also swim, because lava rivers flow into the waters of the Pacific Ocean, forming toxic clouds.

The Big Island of Hawaii has remained in a disaster zone since the beginning of the month. One of the most active active volcanoes in the world, Kilauea, rages there.

In three weeks, lava flows spread 24 kilometers and reached the Pacific Ocean. When it comes into contact with lava, seawater boils, forming clouds of acidic fumes, water vapor and glassy particles.

Boiling water throws fiery fountains and lava fragments into the air. Sprays fly up to a height of 30 meters.

However, before reaching the ocean, the lava destroyed about 50 residential buildings and dozens of other buildings along its path.

Due to the eruption, more than 2 thousand residents were evacuated from the area affected by the volcano and air travel was cancelled.

Rivers of lava have flowed toward a geothermal power plant that supplies the Big Island with 25% of its electricity. After this, the disaster reached the water approximately 5 kilometers east of the power plant.

On the east coast of the island you can observe lava fountains that erupt from cracks 40 meters deep. Three weeks ago, the fissures erupted less intensely. Volcanologists explained that then the remaining magma from past eruptions was coming out, and now it’s fresh lava, whose flows will erupt more powerfully and higher.

Now the height of lava fountains can reach 100 meters, and volcanologists are sure that this is not the limit. In 1955, Kilauea erupted for several months, and now history may repeat itself.

Authorities are distributing masks that protect people from volcanic ash. The first casualty from the eruption appeared on the island this week. A man standing on a third-floor balcony suffered a serious leg injury from lava splashes.

Now the situation has worsened because methane has begun to come out of the ground, it flares up and catches fire. At any moment everything can end in an explosion.

But one should not overestimate the scale of the eruption: one Reddit user clearly demonstrated them by publishing the following picture.

The park contains two of the most active volcanoes in the world - Mauna Loa (height 4,170 m) and Kilauea. Volcanic eruptions create an ever-changing landscape, with lava flows creating amazing geological formations. The park is home to rare species of birds; unique forests of giant ferns grow here.

The Hawaiian Islands are crowned by an underwater volcanic ridge and represent the highest active volcanoes on earth. Volcanic activity on the largest island of the archipelago, the island of Hawaii, continues to this day. Hawaiian Volcanoes National Park is located here.

Hawaiian Volcanoes is a US national park established in 1916 on the island of Hawaii, the largest of the Hawaiian Islands.

Kilauela Volcano, the park's main volcano, is traditionally considered the sacred home of the volcano goddess Pele. Hawaiians visited the crater to bring gifts to the goddess. The first white people climbed that volcano only in 1823, they were the English missionary William Ellis and the American Asa Thurston. This is what Ellis later wrote about the volcano’s caldera: “A sublime and even terrifying spectacle appeared before us. We stopped in awe. Surprise and awe at other moments made us silent, and, like statues, we froze in one place and our eyes were riveted on the abyss that lies below us." The Kilauela caldera looks like a lake of boiling fiery liquid with an area of ​​4.5 square kilometers and a depth of over 230 meters. Kilauela is one of the most active volcanoes in the world. He has not been able to calm down since 1983. Thomas Jagger built a museum on the edge of that caldera. The exhibits include everything related to volcanoes - scientific equipment, clothing used by volcanologists, and so on. Some museum windows offer wonderful views of the Calauela Caldera and Galemaumau Crater. The museum is named after Jagger, who was also the first director of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, adjacent to the museum. But the entrance to the observatory is closed to tourists. In the park you can see the results of hundreds of thousands of years of volcanic activity. Which shaped the islands themselves and their ecological system. The park covers all heights - from sea level to the top of the island - the Mauna Loa volcano (4169). And the Kilauea volcano, one of the most active, gives scientists information about the birth of the Hawaiian Islands and evokes thoughts about the first volcanic landscapes. The park includes 1348 square kilometers.

Volcanoes Park, founded in 1916, is located in the southeast of the Big Island. The area of ​​the park is 1348 sq. km. Here you can see the Hawaiian jungle with giant ferns, unique volcanic formations, and smoking craters.

On the territory of the Park there is a volcanological museum, where films are shown free of charge every day. The main attraction of the park is the Kilauea Caldera volcano with its steamy cracks, sulfur fumes and periodic eruptions. Its two neighbors, the less active Mauna Loa volcano and the dormant Mauna Kea volcano, rise to approximately 4200m. above sea level, while their foundation rests on the ocean floor, which is still about 4800m. Mauna Kea is the world's tallest mountain when measured from its base on the ocean floor.

The unique landscape of the park is formed by the activity of volcanoes. Travelers have a unique opportunity to see both dormant volcanoes, the slopes of which are already covered with tropical forests, and active, smoking craters. Frozen dark volcanic lava slides into the ocean like a huge black river, blocking roads and forming a bizarre coastline. Where lava hits the ocean, steam rises in the air and arches form. The unusualness of the landscape and its desolation creates the feeling as if you were on the edge of the earth.

Due to its geographical location, the Hawaiian Islands are truly unique and inimitable. As the only US state built entirely on volcanic rock, Hawaii is home to impressive volcanoes dating back more than 70 million years. One could even argue that all of Hawaii is just a chain of huge volcanoes with their bases deep in the ocean. And what can be seen above the water is only a small part of them. Each island of Hawaii is living proof that the volcanoes that formed them erupted repeatedly until their tops were above sea level. Although there are many underwater volcanoes near Hawaii, in this section we will try to describe in detail only those that formed the Hawaiian island chain.

Volcanoes of the Big Island

Mauna Loa

Mount Mauna Loa, 96 km long and 48 km wide, occupies an impressive 85% of the islands' total land area. Translated from Hawaiian, Mauna Loa means “long mountain” - a volcano whose 4,117 m are above the surface of the ocean. As one of the tallest mountains in the world, Mauna Loa is also the most active volcano in the world. Snow forms at the top of the volcano in winter.

The volcano first erupted in 1843, followed by 33 more. Mauna Loa's last eruption occurred in March-April 1984. Scientists are constantly monitoring the activity of the volcano, as eruptions are expected in the near future.

Mauna Loa is a shield volcano: this means that the volcano slowly “grew” thanks to lava layers. Interestingly, these types of volcanoes even form on other planets. For example, this is how the largest mountain in the entire solar system was formed - the Olympus volcano on Mars.

This volcano is over 500,000 years old and is the oldest volcano located on land. Kohala is a 1,670 m high shield volcano occupying 5.8% of the island's surface. Scientists have calculated that the volcano's activity began to fade 300,000 years ago, when the volcano was twice as wide as it is now. Kohala is currently completely inactive. Researchers suggest that its last eruption occurred 120,000 years ago.

While Kohala Volcano was gradually dying out, eruptions of the younger and more active volcanoes Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa were changing its southern slope. It is for this reason that it is very difficult to determine the exact shape of the mountain and its size during that period.

Volcano Lo'ihi, being the youngest volcano in the Hawaiian volcanic chain, lies 1,000 m below sea level and is an underwater volcano. Lo'ihi, 3,000m high, is located off the southeast coast of the Big Island. The name "Loihi" can be translated as "long".

Not far from Loihi are Mauna Loa and Kilauea. This volcano was once dormant, but it awoke with a prolonged eruption in 1996. Since this year, the volcano has erupted from time to time.

The Kilauea volcano is quite young, but this does not prevent it from being one of the most active volcanoes on Earth. Kilauea is located in the southeastern part of the Big Island, on the slope of the active volcano Mauna Loa. The volcano is constantly being monitored scientifically.

Kilauea's name means "eruption" or "expansion", reflecting its nature: the volcano has been continuously erupting since 1983. The Kilauea volcano holds a special place in Hawaiian mythology. Many residents believe that the volcano is the home of Pele, the goddess of fire and volcanoes. If you make offerings and appease her, she can be calm and merciful, but if you anger her, she can cause an eruption.

Mauna Kea

The Mauna Kea shield volcano rises 4,205 m above the surface of the water, and another 6,000 m below sea level: a total height of more than 10 km makes this volcano the highest mountain on Earth. Translated from the Hawaiian language, “Mauna Kea” means “white mountain”, and this volcano is significantly different from its neighbors - the volcanoes Mauna Loa and Kilauea. Mauna Kea is currently considered dormant, having last erupted more than 4,500 years ago. Minor eruptions occur periodically, but since the main crater has not been preserved, the chemical composition of the lava is always different. Mauna Kea is a unique volcano because it was formed by glaciers thousands of years ago. Few people would think that there could be a glacier in Hawaii! In winter, the top of the volcano is covered with a snow cap.

Mahukona

Mahucona is an underwater volcano located off the northwest coast of the Big Island. It was once 243 m above sea level, but now it is located 1,100 m below. Translated from Hawaiian it means “steam coming from the leeward side of the island.”

Hualalai

The volcano is the third youngest and third most active volcano on the Big Island (after Mauna Loa and Kilauea). The city of Kailua-Kona, home of the famous Kona coffee, is built on the southwestern slope of the Hualalai volcano. The volcano is named after the wife of the famous Hawaiian navigator Hawaii Loa.

In the past, the volcano erupted frequently. Keahole Airport is built on solidified lava flows. A series of earthquakes in 1929 made it clear that Hualalai Volcano could still pose a threat to Hawaii.

Volcanoes of Maui

West and East Maui are two volcanoes that form the island.

East Maui

This volcano is also known as Haleakala, the second volcano after Kilauea to erupt after the 18th century. This third largest volcano boasts a fair number of eruptions: ten in the past 10,000 years. The last eruption occurred in 1790. Ten eruptions in 10,000 years - in specific geological time frames this number can be considered very large. Many scientists are confident that the volcano will soon awaken.

The word "Haleakala" can be translated as "house of the Sun", and the top of the volcano occupies a certain place in Hawaiian mythology. The Haleakala crater at the top of the volcano is currently very popular with tourists.

West Maui

Scientists suggest that this volcano was formed approximately 1.3-2 million years ago. They calculated that its last eruption occurred a million years ago, so it is currently considered extinct and harmless.

Volcanoes of Molokai

There are two volcanoes on the island: Western Molokai(sometimes called Mauna Loa) and Eastern Molokai(Vailau).

The West Molokai volcano is the smaller of these, while the East Molokai volcano occupies the eastern two-thirds of the island. Most of the East Molokai volcano is located below sea level, under layers of lava from other volcanoes.

Volcanoes of Oahu

The Ko'olau and Waianae volcanoes formed the island of Oahu. Waianae dominates the western (windward) side of the island, while Ko'olau can be seen on the eastern (leeward) side of the island.

Ko'olau is a basaltic volcano that forms two-thirds of the island.

Diamond Head Crater, Hanauma Bay and Koko Crater attract thousands of tourists every year. Ko'olau is also a favorite subject of study due to the special composition of the lava of this volcano, which contains more quartz than the lava of other Hawaiian volcanoes.

The Waianae volcano is taller and more ancient than Ko'olau. Moreover, it erupts less frequently, which allows coastal waters to remain clean.

The Hawaiian Islands expand and change their shape in parallel with each volcanic eruption. Thanks to destructive eruptions, land is formed on which life arises. Visit any of these amazing volcanoes to understand how the beautiful Hawaiian Islands were formed (and continue to be formed).

Hawaiian Volcanoes are located within the National Park. Active volcanoes Kilauea and Mauna Loa. Kilauea has been erupting slowly but continuously since 1983 and is one of the most active volcanoes on Earth. In the park you can see the result of thousands of years of volcanic activity, migration and evolution processes that formed the land in the middle of the ocean with a unique ecosystem. Kilauela Volcano has a crater 4.5 km in diameter. Its maximum depth is about 230 m. Today, a real museum is organized on the edge of this crater; its founder was Thomas Jagger, the first head of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, and the exhibits include scientific equipment, volcanologists’ clothing and other things related to volcanoes.

Geological evidence from studies of the age of ancient surfaces on the southern and western slopes of Mauna Loa has led to the assumption that these are two ancient shield volcanoes, Ninole and Kulani, that were completely buried by the younger Mauna Loa. Geologists now consider these outcrops to be part of Mauna Loa.

The underwater volcano Loihi is located 35 km southeast of the island of Hawaii. This is an underwater mountain, the top of which is 980 meters below the water surface. The continued activity of Loihi in 10,000-100,000 years may lead to the appearance of a new island or peninsula of the island of Hawaii above the ocean surface.

Volcanoes

• Kohala - extinct
• Mauna Kea - sleeping
• Hualalai - active but not erupting since 1801
• Mauna Loa is active. Partially located in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
• Kilauea is active (continuously erupting since 1983). It is part of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

Thanks to the eruptions of the Kilauea volcano, the area of ​​the island of Hawaii is still increasing. From January 1983 to September 2002, lava flows increased the island by 220 hectares.

Useful travel information

• Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park | Official website – nps.gov
• Visitor Information & Photos | volcanogallery.com
• Hawai'i Volcanoes | Explore Guide (PDF)
• tourist information about the Hawaiian Islands - www.gohawaii.com

Address: Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, HI 96718, United States
Coordinates: 19°23’00.0″N 155°12’00.0″W

Two roads connect the two main cities - Hilo on the east coast and Kailua-Kona on the west coast of the island.

• State Routes 19 and 190, northbound through Waimea.
• State Route 11 south through Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

There are also State Routes 270 (Kawaihae to Hawi) and 180 (Kona Coffee Road) from Honalo to Route 190 Saddle Road (from Hilo to Waimea, passing Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea), South Point Road (Route 11 to US Point South), etc. Car rental offices are located at international airports. There is also a taxi service. Free public transport provided by Hele-On Bus

The main commercial ports are located at Hilo in the east and Kawaihae in the west of the island. Cruise ships often stop at Kailua-Kona.