Volcanoes of Hawaii and the Pacific

Author:

Stearns, Harold T.

Title:

Volcanoes of Hawaii and the Pacific

Periodical:

Mid-Pacific Magazine

Year:

1925

Volume:

29

Pages:

748-755

Subject:

Volcanoes Hawaii Island Volcanic eruptions

Summary:

Stearns briefly describes the geologic history of the island of Hawaii. The first mountain to appear was an ancestral Mauna Loa [Ninole Hills], situated under the present southwest rift of Mauna Loa. Kohala volcano began at about the same time. Later eruptions began at the intersection of the Loa and Kohala (Kea) rifts, building Mauna Kea; the closing eruptions of these volcanoes were explosive. The formation of Hualalai and Kilauea were next, and finally the establishment of the present vent of Mauna Loa. Kilauea was formed at the intersection of the Kea rift, with seaward slip faults on the flank of the ancestral Mauna Loa. Stearns concludes that Mauna Loa has two periods of activity separated by 20,000 yrs, and that Kilauea is dying. [This chronology was considerably revised during preparation of the geologic map of the island of Hawaii {Stearns and Macdonald, 1946}. - Hawaiian Volcano Observatory] He considers 1924 activity at Kilauea to be phreatic and that water can enter the system when the level of magma column sinks below sea level.

Label:

Geology

URL:

http://hdl.handle.net/10524/35534

Collection:

Periodicals