Hawaii’s eruptions over the past several decades have been relatively benign, being characterized mostly by persistent lava lake activity or lava flows and occasional episodes of lava fountaining. Even the recent explosive events at Halemaumau, which have happened sporadically over the past four years, were very small and impacted only a tiny area of the summit. With such activity seeming to be the norm here, we tend to forget that basaltic volcanism can sometimes be much more violent.
June 10 marked the anniversary of the deadly 1886 eruption of Tarawera volcano, on New Zealand’s North Island. Having last erupted in the 14th century, Maori and European settlers did not know that Mount Tarawera was an active volcano. Small towns and villages dotted the surrounding landscape, and tourists visited hot springs at nearby geothermal areas.
Shortly after midnight on June 10, people in those villages and towns were shaken awake by a swarm of violent earthquakes, which were felt throughout the North Island. Those living close to the volcano soon found themselves in a struggle for survival. A basaltic dike, with a lava composition similar to that erupted in Hawaii, was forcing its way to the surface, breaking the ground above. At about 2 a.m., the night sky was suddenly lit by an eerie glow as incandescent columns of tephra began to erupt from the fissure that was splitting Tarawera down the middle. Clouds of ash, with lightning flashing inside, reached to a height of six miles.
The dike continued to extend, eventually reaching a length of 11 miles, with new blast craters opening sequentially. Near its southeastern end, the fissure intersected the Rotomahana geothermal field and triggered a series of powerful phreatomagmatic explosions — ones caused by the interaction of magma and water — that destroyed the Pink and White Terraces, a geothermal feature considered one of the wonders of the world. The rumbling of the eruption was audible at the northern tip of South Island, 260 miles away.
The surrounding landscape was quickly blanketed by a thick layer of muddy ash, stripping away vegetation and causing roofs to collapse on many who had sought refuge indoors. By the time the eruption ended at about 6 a.m., five Maori villages had been buried or destroyed, accounting for most of the 108 people estimated to have died. This devastating event shook the foundations of the local Maori people, who placed a taboo on the mountain that forbid Maori visitation to this sacred site for 100 years.
The 1886 eruption of Mount Tarawera is a long way off, in both time and distance, but could something like that happen here? The answer is, “sort of.” While a fissure eruption of the intensity of that at Tarawera is not likely at Kilauea, our volcano has hosted extremely powerful explosive eruptions from its summit.
Descriptions of these events have been highlighted in past Volcano Watch articles, and their occurrence is evident in the thick tephra layers studded with ballistic blocks that surround Kilauea’s caldera. An eruption like that, though different in style, could be equally as devastating as that at Mount Tarawera if it were to happen today at Kilauea. There is little need to worry, though. Large explosive basaltic eruptions, like those in Kilauea’s — and Tarawera’s — past, are rare indeed.
Kilauea activity update
A lava lake within the Halemaumau Overlook vent resulted in nighttime glow visible from the Jaggar Museum overlook during the past week. The lake has been about 200 to 260 feet below the floor of Halemaumau Crater and visible by HVO’s webcam through much of the last month. This past week, the level fluctuated slightly due to several deflation-inflation cycles at the summit.
On Kilauea’s east rift zone, surface lava flows on the pali and coastal plain continued advancing towards the ocean. As of Wednesday, the flows were about 0.5 miles from the ocean; there was no active ocean entry. Within Puu Oo crater, a lava pond was active and several small lava flows were erupted onto the crater floor over the past week.
One earthquake was reported felt across Hawaii Island during the past week. A magnitude 2.9 earthquake occurred at 1:01 p.m. Tuesday located two miles southeast of Kilauea summit at two miles depth.
Visit hvo.wr.usgs.gov for detailed Kilauea and Mauna Loa activity updates, recent volcano photos and recent earthquakes; call 967-8862 for a Kilauea summary; email questions to askHVO@usgs.gov.
Volcano Watch is a weekly article and activity update written by scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.