Kīlauea Activity

[Selfsim]

It was the early '80's when we were there, so yeah. My recollection is that the car rental companies forbid taking them up there.

Ours was a standard 2 wheel drive rental vehicle hired from Hilo airport. The road was in excellent condition .. fully sealed (etc).
There doesn't seem to have been any volcanic intrusions or quakes along that route since then (its all seems pretty stable in that direction).

[Trebuchet]

From Wikipedia:

Route 200, known locally as Saddle Road, traverses the width of the Island of Hawaiʻi, from downtown Hilo to its junction with Hawaii Route 190 near Waimea. The road was considered one of the most dangerous paved roads in the state, with many one-lane bridges and areas of marginally maintained pavement. Most of the road has now been repaved, and major parts have new re-alignments to modern standards. The highway reaches a maximum elevation of 6,632 feet (2,021 m) and is subject to fog and low visibility. Many rental car companies used to prohibit use of their cars on Saddle Road, but now allow use of the road. The highway experiences heavy use as it provides the shortest driving route from Hilo to Kailua-Kona and access to the slopes of Mauna Loa and the Mauna Kea Observatories.

Apologies for the digression. There's also a road around the coast to the northwest, it appears.

Back on topic, the Hale Ma'uMa'u crater has undergone dramatic changes in the past few days, with the walls caving in.

[Selfsim]

There's some really neat images and relatively recent info on the caldera changes here.
There's also a hi-def video of summit fly-overs conducted from June 5th showing what's been going on (takes forever to load, however).

PS: Probably not: but there looks to be a set of footprints leading right up to the rim, too!

[publiusr]

The 1883 Krakatau eruption was plinian, not strombolian. While phreatic effects may have contributed to the overall sequence, the big eruption would have been due to a rapid buildup of pressure from degassing as fresh, hot magma was introduced into the magma chamber. That's my understanding.

Then what about something like another Diamond Head?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honolulu_Volcanic_Series

There is a part of me that wonders if this might be the last gasp of the 83' eruption, with everything becoming more quiet as the big island moves off the hot spot--or is that jumping the gun a little?

[Trebuchet]

I'd suspect it's jumping the gun a lot. Geologic time is almost inconceivable to human minds. That's why we've got so many creationists.

But thanks for the reminder to go look at the HVO site, I haven't since yesterday.

[schlaugh]

Then what about something like another Diamond Head?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honolulu_Volcanic_Series

There is a part of me that wonders if this might be the last gasp of the 83' eruption, with everything becoming more quiet as the big island moves off the hot spot--or is that jumping the gun a little?

Well, since the Pacific Plate is chugging away at 5 to 10 CM a year, it might be a bit too soon.

Hawaiian volcanoes drift northwest from the hotspot at a rate of about 5–10 centimeters (2.0–3.9 in) a year.[18] The hotspot has migrated south by about 800 kilometers (497 mi) relative to the Emperor chain.[23] Paleomagnetic studies support this conclusion based on changes in Earth's magnetic field, a picture of which was engrained in the rocks at the time of their solidification,[45] showing that these seamounts formed at higher latitudes than present-day Hawaii. Prior to the bend, the hotspot migrated an estimated 7 centimeters (2.8 in) per year; the rate of movement changed at the time of the bend to about 9 centimeters (3.5 in) per year.[23] The Ocean Drilling Program provided most of the current knowledge about the drift. The 2001[46] expedition drilled six seamounts and tested the samples to determine their original latitude, and thus the characteristics and speed of the hotspot's drift pattern in total.[47]

Each successive volcano spends less time actively attached to the plume. The large difference between the youngest and oldest lavas between Emperor and Hawaiian volcanoes indicates that the hotspot's velocity is increasing. For example, Kohala, the oldest volcano on Hawaii island, is one million years old and last erupted 120,000 years ago, a period of just under 900,000 years; whereas one of the oldest, Detroit Seamount, experienced 18 million or more years of volcanic activity.[21]


The oldest volcano in the chain, Meiji Seamount, perched on the edge of the Aleutian Trench, formed 85 million years ago.[48] At its current velocity, the seamount will be destroyed within a few million years, as the Pacific Plate slides under the Eurasian Plate. It is unknown whether the seamount chain has been subducting under the Eurasian Plate, and whether the hotspot is older than Meiji Seamount, as any older seamounts have since been destroyed by the plate margin. It is also possible that a collision near the Aleutian Trench had changed the velocity of the Pacific Plate, explaining the hotspot chain's bend; the relationship between these features is still being investigated.[23][49]

[Swift]

A video from KHON-TV from a couple of days ago on the current state of Volcano National Park.

Made me a little sad; the ranger mentioned that some things may never open again. My understanding from other reports is that some of the roadway around the caldera has collapsed into the caldera.

[schlaugh]

A nice overview and summation video from the National Park Service on the most current eruption.

[Trebuchet]

I've been wondering at what point the "Fissure 8" cone will merit its own name. It's 55m/180 feet tall, according to USGS.

[CJSF]

I've been wondering at what point the "Fissure 8" cone will merit its own name. It's 55m/180 feet tall, according to USGS.

USGS has said repeatedly (via news conferences, phone calls, and video updates) that it will probably get a name, but they are too busy with everything else to worry about that right now.

CJSF

[Swift]

How about Coney McConeface?

[Trebuchet]

USGS has said repeatedly (via news conferences, phone calls, and video updates) that it will probably get a name, but they are too busy with everything else to worry about that right now.

CJSF

How about Coney McConeface?

Pu'u McPu'uface?

Got to be Pu'u something, I'd think.

[Squink]

In the United Kingdom, a land mass must have an identifiable summit and be more than 984 feet (300 m) in height for it to be considered a mountain.

I expect that in Hawaii, it'll at least have to clear the general hill size in the area. 55 meters is still a bump. Cinder cones easily get taller.
Pu'u McPu'uface is good, if and when it's needed.

[CJSF]

I expect that in Hawaii, it'll at least have to clear the general hill size in the area. 55 meters is still a bump. Cinder cones easily get taller.
Pu'u McPu'uface is good, if and when it's needed.

In this case it's not about naming a new mountain, but giving vents and cones names if they persist, as is the usual custom there.

CJSF

[wd40]

There was a fear at the time of the BP Gulf of Mexico oil leak that if it could not be plugged that it could go on for decades, and become an ELE. If this Kilauea continues spewing lava at this rate for decades, could it have any major effect on the environment and life, locally or far away?

[Trebuchet]

In the United Kingdom, a land mass must have an identifiable summit and be more than 984 feet (300 m) in height for it to be considered a mountain.

They made a whole movie about that, except it was 1000 feet then. My former boss grew up where they filmed it.

[Squink]

Good movie. It's what caused me to look up the current Brit definition.

[Swift]

There was a fear at the time of the BP Gulf of Mexico oil leak that if it could not be plugged that it could go on for decades, and become an ELE.

An Extinction Level Event for the entire Earth? I don't recall any such thing.

If this Kilauea continues spewing lava at this rate for decades, could it have any major effect on the environment and life, locally or far away?

Kilauea has been erupting continuously since 1983; why would it suddenly have non-local effects? Of course it has local effects, but the effects don't even seem to impact the entire island of Hawaii, let alone anything further away.

[CJSF]

The only reason why Kilauea is in the news to the extent all this apocalyptic nonsense is being broadcast around is because the current phase opened up in a (relatively) denser population area (Leilani Estates) and then inundated a bunch of luxury vacation properties. Otherwise this is business as usual for Kilauea. It's interesting and only still (barely) cool to watch from afar because very few people have had serious injury. Of course the property loss is nothing to make light of either.

CJSF

[Swift]

I will make one note... a lot of the homes destroyed were not "luxury vacation properties". They were people's primary homes and I think a lot of them were rather modest. My understanding was that this area was one of the more reasonably priced areas on the island, and I think a lot of that was because it was in the area of some past lava flows.

[Trebuchet]

The luxury ones would have been around the former Kapoho bay, which is now more of a peninsula.

[Gillianren]

One of Simon's godmothers has lived in Pahoa off and on her entire life, and it's definitely not exclusively a wealthy area. Parts of it are very poor. It's my understanding that the school was seriously threatened a while back, though I don't know what came of that.

[Trebuchet]

Here's the old Pahoa thread. Ultimately very little damage in that event, although the whole town was threatened for a long time. Just one home destroyed, IIRC.

[CJSF]

I will make one note... a lot of the homes destroyed were not "luxury vacation properties". They were people's primary homes and I think a lot of them were rather modest. My understanding was that this area was one of the more reasonably priced areas on the island, and I think a lot of that was because it was in the area of some past lava flows.

Sorry if I wasn't clear on that point. Leilani Estates is a middle-lower income area. The higher-end properties were in Vacationland (near the no longer extant Kapoho Bay), if I interpreted the video updates properly over the last month or so.

CJSF

[Selfsim]

What I'd like to know, (if answerable), is whether the now mostly devoid of magma, Halemaʻumaʻu caldera, can ever refill once again?

If the magma 'streams' from the fissures can solidify all the way from the coastal outfalls back to the fissure(s), then can the fissure(s), themselves, also seal over and force the fluid magma to well up all the way back to the main caldera? I guess if the subsurface magma reservoir outflows and pressures ever subside enough for the ocean outfalls to solidify again, then the caldera could again refill .. however, this would now seem unlikely, and fissure 8 may end up being be Pele's new residence .. (or maybe her retirement home?)

And what about Puʻu ʻŌʻō? I think its level has dropped during this event as well. What's going to happen there?

[wd40]

An Extinction Level Event for the entire Earth? I don't recall any such thing.

During the 2010 leak some claimed that the volume and pressure of the Gulf field are such that it may be have been incapable of being capped, and could have leaked for decades, destroying the Atlantic Ocean. Surface tension would prevent fish and sea life from reaching the surface, and the ocean would eventually become a 'dead zone'. Covered with an oily film, the seas would not be able to evaporate to form clouds, reducing rainfall. Any rain that did fall would be contaminated with toxic benzene, toluene, phenol and methylene chloride, with disastrous results on crops, animals and humans. In 1903 the Austrian writer Gustav Meyrink wrote a book called "Petroleum, Petroleum" about a massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico eventually covering all of the Earth’s oceans, causing rain to cease falling and the collapse of humanity.

Kilauea has been erupting continuously since 1983; why would it suddenly have non-local effects? Of course it has local effects, but the effects don't even seem to impact the entire island of Hawaii, let alone anything further away.

Presumably in the Earth's past lava flowed from scores of volcanoes and fissures for aeons. Is there any scenario whereby the current Hawaiian event could naturally gain access to inexhaustible magma flowing and producing toxic gases also for aeons, and with what result on life, if any? (cf the most frightening of the Dr Who series, "Inferno").

[Swift]

During the 2010 leak some claimed that the volume and pressure of the Gulf field are such that it may be have been incapable of being capped, and could have leaked for decades, destroying the Atlantic Ocean. Surface tension would prevent fish and sea life from reaching the surface, and the ocean would eventually become a 'dead zone'. Covered with an oily film, the seas would not be able to evaporate to form clouds, reducing rainfall. Any rain that did fall would be contaminated with toxic benzene, toluene, phenol and methylene chloride, with disastrous results on crops, animals and humans. In 1903 the Austrian writer Gustav Meyrink wrote a book called "Petroleum, Petroleum" about a massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico eventually covering all of the Earth’s oceans, causing rain to cease falling and the collapse of humanity.

OK, now I'm going to put my moderator hat on - this is off topic for this thread. If you want to discuss this, start a new thread.

[geonuc]

Presumably in the Earth's past lava flowed from scores of volcanoes and fissures for aeons. Is there any scenario whereby the current Hawaiian flow could naturally gain access to inexhaustible magma flowing and producing toxic gases also for aeons, and with what result on life, if any? (cf the most frightening of the Dr Who series, "Inferno").

There are many examples of massive lava flows on Earth - the geologic term is Large Igneous Province (LIP), or flood basalt (if the lava is basaltic, which most is). You may be using the the term aeon informally, but these LIP's did not last for geologic eons. More like a few millions of years or considerably less. Some of the LIPs are considered to have contributed to mass extinctions. The Deccan Traps and Siberian Traps, for example.

As to whether the Hawaiian hotspot, which has been producing lava for something less than 100 million years, can turn into a LIP, that's speculative at best. Other LIPs were formed (we think) from hot spot activity driven by mantle plumes, as is the Hawaiian hotspot. I'm no expert but I'd think that if the Hawaiian hotspot were to become a flood basalt, it would have done so by now.

[BigDon]

There are many examples of massive lava flows on Earth - the geologic term is Large Igneous Province (LIP), or flood basalt (if the lava is basaltic, which most is). You may be using the the term aeon informally, but these LIP's did not last for geologic eons. More like a few millions of years or considerably less. Some of the LIPs are considered to have contributed to mass extinctions. The Deccan Traps and Siberian Traps, for example.As to whether the Hawaiian hotspot, which has been producing lava for something less than 100 million years, can turn into a LIP, that's speculative at best. Other LIPs were formed (we think) from hot spot activity driven by mantle plumes, as is the Hawaiian hotspot. I'm no expert but I'd think that if the Hawaiian hotspot were to become a flood basalt, it would have done so by now.

When the Deccan traps were being laid down there was the equivalent of a Mount St. Helen's explosion every week for a *million* years.

The Siberian traps were worse.

And somehow we still like to think we're the worst thing that's ever happened to the Earth.

[Trebuchet]

What I'd like to know, (if answerable), is whether the now mostly devoid of magma, Halemaʻumaʻu caldera, can ever refill once again?

If the magma 'streams' from the fissures can solidify all the way from the coastal outfalls back to the fissure(s), then can the fissure(s), themselves, also seal over and force the fluid magma to well up all the way back to the main caldera? I guess if the subsurface magma reservoir outflows and pressures ever subside enough for the ocean outfalls to solidify again, then the caldera could again refill .. however, this would now seem unlikely, and fissure 8 may end up being be Pele's new residence .. (or maybe her retirement home?)

And what about Puʻu ʻŌʻō? I think its level has dropped during this event as well. What's going to happen there?

"Ever" is a really long time. I'd think it might not take that long at all. The current east rift zone event is nothing new -- similar events have occurred many times, including the Kapoho eruption of 1960. The eruption map also shows flows right in this area from 1955. Eventually the underground plumbing will clog, or the lava supply will be reduced, and this event will come to an end. I'd guess (and IANAG) this will probably happen before the end of this year. Activity will then return (eventually) to the summit and/or Pu'u O'o.