Mauna Loa reveiled (Volcanic History) essays

Mauna Loa reveiled (Volcanic History) essays The unique landscape of Hawaii mostly originated form volcanoes. Most of the active volcanoes on earth are discovered around the islands of Hawaii. The island of Hawaii is made up of five volcanoes: Kohala, Mauna Kia, Hulalai, Mauna Loa, and Kilawa . Among these, the enormous volcano, Mauna Loa covers the large area of the island. Though this huge volcano erupts less frequently, its past history, recent eruption and for its significance as the largest volcano on our planet made Mauna Loa a center of attention for the world. Being one of the earths most active volcanoes, Mauna Loa has erupted 33 times since 1843. These eruptions have produced lava flows covering 806 km2 of the island of Hawaii. The longest lava flow from the eruption of Mauna Loa was the pa hoe hoe (means ropy or smooth) flow in 1859. This 50 km long lava flow has reached the ocean north of Kiholo Bay on Hawaiis west coast (Fig.1.1) . Another eruption that occurred in 1880-81, has produced a 48 km long pa hoe hoe flows (1). Between 1868 and 1950, five eruptions produced lava flows that have reached the West Coast (Fig.1.1)[2]. One of these eruptions was fissure (crack) eruption started on November 21st, 1935 and ended on January 2nd 1936. Other four eruptions have produced lava flows traveled to the sea in 3 to 48 hours (in less than 3 hours one flow poured into the sea, 15 km away, from the southwest rift zone)[3]. These basaltic, highly fluid lavas caused a great damage to the infrastructure (roadways, buildings etc.) and covered a large area in Hawaii with lava. After the eruption in 1950 Mauna Loa has reawakened in 1975 with a one-day summit (highest point; the top) eruption (2). After that the most recent eruption occurred in 1984. According to the data provided by the scientists of Hawaiian Volcanic Observatory and Mauna Loa Observatory, small earthquakes began at a rate of 2-3 per minute at 10:5...