Five Volcanoes !

All Hawaiians know the Big Island was created by the commingling lava flows from five immense volcanoes, but most visitors know only two – i.e., Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea.  And, somewhat uniquely, the volcanoes of Hawaii are not where plates meet, but actually thousands of miles from the nearest plate boundary in what is known as a “hot-spot” in the Pacific Plate.  Also, Hawaii’s volcanoes are not the type like Mt. St. Helens or Mt. Etna that can have explosive eruptions; they simply release flows of relatively fluid lava.

http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/kilauea/

Currently there are two volcanoes on the Big Island classified as active:

1.   Kilauea, actively erupting for almost the past 30 years is the world’s most active volcano.  It has been spewing lava continuously since January 1983.   Kilauea nestles into the side of Mauna Loa and was once considered a part of Mauna Loa, but subsequent research showed that it has its own “magma-plumbing system.”  http://hawaii.aloha-hawaii.com/hawaii/big+island+volcanoes/

Located in Volcanoes National Park near the caldera of Kilauea is the “fire pit,” which is known as Halemaumau (“House of Everlasting Fire”).  Halemaumau at times has a contained lake of boiling lava. The pit is enlarged periodically by steam blasts and collapsing walls. Typical eruptions consist of lava flows forming lava lakes in Halemaumau or elsewhere on the caldera through fissures and rift zones.  Volcanoes National Park is actually Hawaii’s most visited tourist attraction, with nearly 9,000 daily visitors coming to the park. http://www.hawaiilogue.com/active-volcanoes-in-hawaii.html

Pele, the Hawaiian Volcano Goddess, is said to live within the Halemaumau firepit.

2.   Mauna Loa (“Long Mountain”), which last erupted in 1984 is the world’s largest volcano. It is also considered one of the most active volcanoes, having erupted 33 times since 1843.

Both of these active Hawaiian volcanoes share the Hawaiian hot spot, but retain unique volcanic histories and compositions.

And three volcanoes on Hawaii are generally classified as dormant:

1.   Kohala, the oldest, which is believed to have emerged from the sea more than 500,000 years ago.

2.   Hualalai, with six different vents that spewed lava, two of which produced lava flows that reached the ocean. The Kona International Airport is build atop the larger of the two flows. It last erupted in 1801, but some still consider it still “active,” which would be a major problem for the population center around Kona-Kohala.

3.   Mauna Kea (“White Mountain”), reaching 13,796 feet above sea level is the world’s tallest mountain (measured from the floor of the ocean to its summit) which last erupted about 4,000 years ago.  It is often snow covered in winter.  It is also the site of 13 astronomical observatories and is expected to be home to what will be the world’s largest telescope, the Thirty Meter Telescope.

       http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/GG/HCV/haw_formation.html  //hawaii.aloha-hawaii.com/hawaii/big+island+volcanoes/

Since the vast majority of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur near plate boundaries, how did the Hawaiian Islands which are entirely of volcanic origin, form in the middle of the Pacific Ocean almost 2,000 miles from the nearest plate boundary?

“J. Tuzo Wilson came up with the Hotspot Theory in 1963. According to his theory, the Hawaiian Island chain resulted from the Pacific Plate moving over a deep, stationary hotspot in the mantle, located beneath the present-day position of the Island of Hawaii. Heat from this hotspot produced a persistent source of magma by partly melting the overriding Pacific Plate. The magma then rises through the mantle and crust to erupt onto the seafloor, forming an active seamount.

Over time, countless eruptions cause the seamount to grow until it finally emerges above sea level to form an island volcano. As the plate movement carries the island beyond the hotspot, the magma source is cutoff, and volcanism ceases. As one island becomes extinct another develops over the hotspot.”  http://www.pdc.org/iweb/volcano_history.jsp

In fact right now a young submarine volcano called Loihi (“Long”) is growing about 20 miles south of the Big Island.  Its ascending summit is currently 3,000 feet below the ocean surface.  http://www.bestplaceshawaii.com/island_insights/bigisland/volcanoes.html

When most people envision a volcano, they think of a tall and cone shaped volcano (think Mount Hood outside of Portland, Oregon). These strato volcanoes tend to have dramatic and explosive eruptions (think Mount Saint Helens).

The five volcanoes of the Big Island are shield volcanoes, which are long and broad and have gently sloping hills.  Shield volcanoes’ lava has a lower viscosity, meaning that the lava is thinner and more fluid.  Because of the fluidity of the lava, major explosive eruptions generally do not occur.  This is why the almost constant flowing lava of Kilauea can be approached and seen by visitors to Volcanoes National park. http://www.hawaiilogue.com/active-volcanoes-in-hawaii.html

All the photos in this post are by Bryan Lowry, are © protected and usage requires his permission.  Please visit Bryan‘s website to see the vast collection of images by this award winning photographer whose photos have also appeared in National Geographic (http://lavapix.com). Significantly, 20% of Bryan’s website sales profits go to Easter Seals Hawaii on the Big Island.

Historic Overview of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

Watching Ken Burns’ spectacular series “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea,” I learned that parks were created both in Hawaii and Alaska way before they were States. In fact Hawaii Volcanoes National Park here on the Big Island was established in 1916 and was actually just the country’s tenth national park.

So how did this happen on Hawaii Island? It appears that suggestions that the Kilauea summit area become a national park began appearing in the Volcano House guest register and in newspapers in Hawaii as early as 1903. Apparently its territorial status did not inhibit the United States federal government from acting.

Two men’s passions, Thomas Jaggar and Lorrin Thurston, crossed -- the former in his role in establishing the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) and the later for his effort in convincing the United States government to protect the volcano by making it a National Park. It is possible that we would have had a National Park without the HVO but I doubt if it would have happened nearly so soon. My guess is that the HVO greatly facilitated travel to the volcano and helped to heighten interest in it.

Thomas Augustus Jaggar, Jr.

Philadelphia born Thomas Augustus Jaggar (1871-1953) not only had a great name but he had three geology degrees from Harvard (A.B., A.M., and Ph.D.), studied in Munich and Heidelberg, and taught at Harvard! There was then only one volcano observatory in the world, at Vesuvius established in 1847 and Jaggar thought America needed one. He traveled to Hawaii in 1909 determined that Kilauea was to be the home of the first American volcano observatory.

Within a year of meeting Lorrin Thurston who (along with others) provided financial backing, a small observing station was set up on the rim of Halemaʻumaʻu crater (a pit crater within Kilauea's summit caldera). In 1912 construction of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) began.

Lorrin Andrews Thurston

Lorrin Andrews Thurston (1858–1931) was born in Honolulu, grandson of one of the original missionaries from New England. He studied law at Columbia University and became a member of the Honolulu bar. In the Kingdom of Hawaii, Thurston served in both elected and appointed positions, but he was a leader in the revolution (January 17, 1893) that overthrew Queen Liliuokalani and ended the native monarchy.

He was also a volcano enthusiast and in 1891 he bought and expanded the Volcano House hotel at the rim of the volcano. Thurston commissioned a cyclorama of Kilauea which he displayed in his travels to the mainland, including the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition of 1893.

Thurston in Center

From 1906 to 1916 he and friends lobbied with national politicians to create a National Park to preserve the Hawaiian Volcanoes.

Building the Observatory

Starting in 1912 a foundation had to be dug only about 20 feet from the rim of the caldera for Jaggar's volcano observation post.

To help stretch limited funds the diggers were prisoners of the Territory of Hawaii, sentenced to a term of hard labor. The prisoners dug through almost six feet of volcanic ash and pumice to a layer of thick pahoehoe lava—a firm base for the concrete piers on which seismometers would be anchored

Plans and elevations for the piers were hand drawn by Professor F. Omori at the Seismological Institute, Imperial University, Tokyo, Japan, and mailed to Jaggar. Also shipped to Jaggar were an Omori-type seismometer and a seismograph for the observation of earthquakes

Mauna Loa Lava Flow

Why Jaggar chose Kilauea for his volcano observatory included the following reasons: (1) Kilauea was the safest known volcano in the world; (2) Kilauea and Mauna Loa were isolated, more than 2,000 miles away from complications other volcanic centers might impose; (3) Kilauea was reasonably accessible—it could be reached by a 30 mile road from Hilo harbor or a day's sail from Honolulu; (4) the central Pacific was good for recording distant earthquakes and was served by good transportation east or west; (5) the climate was uniform, with air clear enough for astronomy; (6) small earthquakes were frequent and easily studied; (7) hot and cold underground waters were available for both agricultural and scientific purposes; and (8) "The territory is American, and these volcanoes are famous in the history of science for their remarkably liquid lavas and nearly continuous activity" (Jaggar, 1917).

Becoming a National Park

While Jaggar established the HVO, Thurston used his newspaper to promote the national park idea and convinced the territorial legislature to fund a group of congressmen to visit Kilauea in 1907. The trip included a dinner cooked over active lava vents. He hosted a visit by the Secretary of the Interior James Rudolph Garfield (son of the then late-President) in 1908, and another congressional visit in 1909. He convinced Territorial Governor Walter F. Frear to introduce a resolution supporting the idea, and formed a survey team to propose exact boundaries. His newspaper printed endorsements of the park by President Theodore Roosevelt (who happened to be a classmate at Columbia), conservationist John Muir, and powerful Senator Henry Cabot Lodge. In 1913 he explored a lava tube in the park that is now named after him.

Today Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is the largest of the five national parks in Hawaii. It contains the active volcanoes of Mauna Loa and Kilauea and covers some 520 square miles (over 320,000 acres) of land. Over half of the park is designated wilderness. The east rift of Kilauea has been erupting continuously since 1983. Kilauea’s crater covers more than four square miles and is the largest active volcanic crater in the world. Its inner pit, Halemaumau, is sometimes called the “House of Everlasting Fire.” The park’s landscape includes the Kau Desert on the arid eastern slope of Kilauea and a luxuriant tree fern forest on its moist western side. And not to be missed is the Jaggar Museum (the Hawaii Volcano Observatory which adjoins the museum is not open to the public) and its incredible views.