Homes in the community of Kaohe Homesteads on Big Island, Hawaii, are being threatened by a lava flow from the Kilauea Volcano, that have reached 1.6 km from the settlement and could potentially reach it in five to seven days according to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. Kilauea is a shield volcano (flat or dome shaped volcano that frequently emits lava flows but seldom if ever undergoes explosive episodes producing ash columns) on the south of Big Island, which has been continuously spewing lava since 1983, though during this time a number of different vents have opened and closed. Most of these lava flows have been relatively harmless, though 213 buildings and 14 km of roads have been destroyed by lava since the eruption began. The lava currently threatening Kaohe Homesteads is issuing from a new vent that opened on 27 June 2014, and has been advancing at a rate of about 250 m per day. It is not thought that it will be possible to divert the lava flow without threatening other communities.
Burning forest in the path of the Kilauea lava flow. Hawaiin Volcano Observatory.
The islands of Hawaii have formed as a result of hotspot volcanism, with the hotspot currently located under Big Island, Hawai'i, and each of the other islands being the result of previous activity from the same hotspot, with the oldest Islands in the northwest and newest in the southeast. A volcanic hotspot is an area where magma from deep inside the Earth is welling up through the overlying plate (in this case the Pacific) to create volcanism at the surface. Volcanoes move as they erupt, swelling as magma enters their chambers from bellow, then shrinking as that magma is vented as lava.
Map charting the progress of the lava flow currently threatening Kaohe Homesteads, as of Thursday 4 September 2014. Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.
See also...
The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 4.5 Earthquake at a depth of 16.8 km on te northern part of Big Island...
The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 4.1 Earthquake close to the surface on western Molokai Island, Hawaii...
The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 3.6 Earthquake at a depth of 7.7 km, 41 km to the south of Hilo...
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