Kīlauea

Kīlauea is an active volcano in the Hawaiian Islands. According to myth, it is the home of the temperamental fire goddess Pele. The volcano is one of five located on the largest island, Hawaii. Kīlauea—which means “spewing” or “much spreading” in Hawaiian—is one of the most active volcanoes in the world. It has been erupting almost continuously since 1983. In the summer of 2018, the eruption of Kīlauea flared up and sent lava flows and volcanic gas into several residential areas. Thousands of people had to be evacuated and hundreds of homes were destroyed.

Background

The Hawaiian Islands are a group of eight larger islands and about 125 smaller islets spread out over 6,459 square miles (16,729 square kilometers) in the Pacific Ocean. Of the eight larger islands, only the smallest—Kahoolawe—is uninhabited. Niihau is privately owned, and public access is severely restricted. Molokai and Lanai both have populations under ten thousand people. Kauai is the oldest island in the chain. The most populated island, Oahu, is home to about one million people and the state capital of Honolulu. Maui is the second-largest island, with a total area of 727 square miles (1,883 square kilometers). Maui is dwarfed by the largest island, Hawaii, which has an area of 4,028 square miles (10,433 square kilometers). Because of its size, Hawaii is also known as the Big Island.

The islands began forming millions of years ago when molten rock from Earth’s crust started to bubble up through the ocean floor. The lava slowly built up and cooled, forming the island of Kauai about five million years ago. This bubbling spout of lava, known as a hot spot, stayed fixed while the tectonic plate of Earth’s crust slowly moved. In time, a new island was formed over the hot spot. As the plate continued to move over the hot spot, the other Hawaiian Islands were created one by one. The island of Hawaii is the youngest, at less than seven hundred thousand years old.

Overview

The island of Hawaii consists of five separate volcanoes, two of which are still active. Hawaiian volcanoes are known as shield volcanoes because their wide sloping cones are said to resemble a warrior’s shield. The oldest, Kohala, is extinct, while Mauna Kea and Hualālai are dormant. Mauna Loa is the largest volcano on Hawaii, taking up about 51 percent of the island. Mauna Loa is active and has erupted thirty-three times since eruptions began to be documented in 1843. It last erupted in 1984. At one point, Kīlauea was believed to be an active side vent on the eastern slope of Mauna Loa, but scientists later recognized it as a distinct volcano.

Scientists believe Kīlauea first erupted about 210,000 to 280,000 years ago, making it the youngest volcano on Hawaii. About 90 percent of the volcano’s surface was produced by lava flows within the last one thousand years. Kīlauea stands 4,010 feet (1,222 meters) tall and has a caldera, or volcanic mouth, about 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) long by 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) wide. According to Hawaiian mythology, a smaller lava-filled crater called Halema‘uma‘u that lies within the caldera is home to the fire goddess Pele. Pele was known across the islands as “she who shapes the sacred land.” She was said to both create new land and destroy forests and villages in her fits of rage.

Scientists estimate that Kīlauea has undergone two extended periods of eruptions in the last 2,500 years. One lasted 1,200 years from about 200 BCE to 1000 CE; the other lasted from about 1500 to 1800. The first eruption to be recorded in modern times occurred in the 1820s; however, local accounts say a group of warriors was killed by a violent explosion that occurred at Kīlauea in 1790. In 1924, the lava lake within Halema‘uma‘u dropped, allowing groundwater to enter the volcanic vents. The resulting steam explosions led to weeks of violent eruptions that tossed debris and large rocks almost half a mile away. By the time the eruption had ended, Halema‘uma‘u had doubled in size from 1,400 feet to 3,000 feet (426 to 914 meters) wide. An eruption in mid-January 1960 sent lava fountains spewing 330 feet (100 meters) into the air and caused large ground fissures to open up in the village of Kapoho. As lava approached the town, residents built several barriers in an attempt to divert the flows. The barriers lasted only a few days at best and by the end of the month, Kapoho was destroyed.

The most recent eruption of Kīlauea began on January 3, 1983, when several fissures opened up on the volcano’s eastern side. The lava fountains spewing from these vents eventually merged to form a single volcanic cone that was named Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, which means “hill of a digging stick.” Lava began flowing from a new vent in 1986, and four years later, it had moved into the villages of Kalapana and Kaimū. Hundreds of homes were destroyed in Kalapana; Kaimū was completely devastated. Kīlauea continued to erupt for more than thirty years, with lava flows occasionally shifting from individual vents to the Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater.

After an earthquake struck the Big Island on May 3, 2018, Kīlauea’s eruption entered a more violent phase. The volcano began spewing out large chunks of molten rock and fountains of lava, ash, and volcanic gas. Lava from dozens of new fissures began to move into Leilani Estates and Lanipuna Gardens, two housing subdivisions that had been built near the site of the former village of Kapoho. More than two thousand people were ordered to evacuate. By mid-July, authorities estimated that more than seven hundred homes had been destroyed. The 2018 outbreak seemed to be subsiding by mid-August, although scientists cautioned that it could flare up again at any time.

The lava flows in 2018 covered about 3.7 square miles (9.6 square kilometers) and formed an area of new land that reached about a mile into the sea. Since Kīlauea’s latest eruption began in 1983, the volcano has produced about 150 billion cubic feet (4.2 billion cubic meters) of lava that has covered about 48 square miles (124 square kilometers) of land. Scientists believe that in about fifty thousand years, Kīlauea will merge with an undersea volcano named Lō‘ihi currently forming off the Big Island’s southeastern coast. Lō‘ihi will then become the sixth volcano on the island of Hawaii.

Beginning in December 2020, Kīlauea began periodically erupting at its summit. These eruptions continued intermittently through 2024.

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