Wednesday, October 13, 2010

~ Kilauea Volcano eruption – historical perspective ~

Steaming rocks on newly formed black sand beach being created by molten lava entering the ocean at this time.

This simplified illustration above offers a rough idea of previous lava flows on the Big Island in the last seventy years or so. The other one below is a general cutaway side view cross-section looking easterly of the eruptive circuitry of our more recent activity.Below: Lava tube today that carries a river of molten ava to the sea, and a fuming/degassing Pulama Pali in the distance.

Time capsule: 1960 Kapoho lava flow (My property boarders this flow.)
From the site: The 1960 Kapoho eruption and its predecessor, the 1959 summit eruption in Kilauea Iki Crater, together formed a summit-flank sequence that has been considered a model for how Kilauea "should" behave. The Kapoho eruption caused havoc in lower Puna, an idyllic rural paradise until the lava fountains and flows covered farm land and villages.

Or for some classic entertainment check out some of these informative USGS movies (Actually one movie in four parts. Pretty amazing footage for the day):
1959-1960 Kilauea Iki and Kapoho lava flow overview - 5-minutes long

Kilauea eruption 1959-1960 Chap 2 -10-minutes

Eruption of Kilauea 1959-1960 Chap 3 10 minutes

Eruption of Kilauea 1959-1960 Chap 4 - 2/1/2 minutes Kapoho eruptive fissures

For those wishing to meet me or get signed copies of my lava movie or canvas prints, I will have my display booth set up in the vender parking area for Hawaii County’s lava viewing between 4PM and 9PM today and possibly tomorrow too. To get there you drive beyond the very end of highway 130, where it becomes single lane, about a mile to where the road is posted closed and you see the parking security staff. My booth is the large brown one:

To make sure the viewing area is open on any given day, Phone 961-8093 for Civil Defense lava hotline updates (after 2:30 PM to be really sure; they check conditions around 2PM each day). For on site information (best direct info) during the 2PM to 10PM viewing hours you can phone either: 430-1966 or try 217-2215

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