Hawaii's Lava Lake Reaches a Record High
- 12 years ago
Hawaii's Lava Lake reaches a record high.
We usually hear of lakes overflowing with water.
In Hawaii, however, a different scenario has unfolded. On January 15th, the famous Lava Lake on Mount Kilauea was home to an abnormally high level of molten rock.
Lava was discovered roughly 80 feet below the crater floor. That means it is approximately 100 feet away from spilling over the top.
Although lava appeared on the crater floor in 1974 and 1982, the circumstances surrounding those events differed from the recent occurrence. An official states “What we have now is the lava lake rising up and the others were eruptions that happened along the sides of the crater.”
Scientists are closely monitoring the activity. If the level rises to 60 feet, visitors will able to witness the scene from an overlook at the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
While the Kilauea volcano is thought to be between 300,000 and 600,000 years old, new carbon dating techniques have allowed for geologists to create a time-line over the past several thousand years. It has been continually spewing lava since 1983. Although the flow has been gentle for the past few decades, it could go into explosive mode at any time.
We usually hear of lakes overflowing with water.
In Hawaii, however, a different scenario has unfolded. On January 15th, the famous Lava Lake on Mount Kilauea was home to an abnormally high level of molten rock.
Lava was discovered roughly 80 feet below the crater floor. That means it is approximately 100 feet away from spilling over the top.
Although lava appeared on the crater floor in 1974 and 1982, the circumstances surrounding those events differed from the recent occurrence. An official states “What we have now is the lava lake rising up and the others were eruptions that happened along the sides of the crater.”
Scientists are closely monitoring the activity. If the level rises to 60 feet, visitors will able to witness the scene from an overlook at the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
While the Kilauea volcano is thought to be between 300,000 and 600,000 years old, new carbon dating techniques have allowed for geologists to create a time-line over the past several thousand years. It has been continually spewing lava since 1983. Although the flow has been gentle for the past few decades, it could go into explosive mode at any time.