INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Lava spattering area from an area between fissures on Wednesday.
Hawaii's Kilauea volcano erupted
explosively early Thursday, tossing boulders hundreds of feet and sending a plume of ash about 30,000 feet into the predawn sky.A webcam at
the Hawaii Volcano Observatory caught the aftermath of the short-lived eruption: an onslaught of wet, dusty ash raining on a darkened
From the summit of Mauna Loa volcano, 20 miles away, cameras photographed an anvil-shaped plume billowing on the horizon.In a news
conference, scientist Michelle Coombs of the U.S
Geological Survey said the activity at the vent could become explosive again
"It's a real dynamic situation up there," she said of the summit.Scientists had warned for days about a major eruption as the lava lake that
once filled the crater at Kilauea's summit began draining back into the ground
Their concern was that the sinking molten rock would create steam as it interacted with the water table and that the steam would then jet
upward, hurling heavy rocks and ash into the sky in a phenomenon known as a phreatic eruption. An image of falling ash from Kilauea, as
captured by the Hawaii Volcano Observatory's webcam Thursday morning."This is the sort of explosive activity that was anticipated," said
USGS geophysicist Mike Poland, who was based at Kilauea from 2005 to 2015
"It's not going to be the only one
Very likely there will be additional events.Hawaii Volcanoes National Park officials said the caldera - the depression at the center of the
volcano - dropped more than three feet overnight, triggering frequent earthquakes that have cracked highways in the area
As the caldera sinks further, it may set off additional steam-driven explosions, they said.Though dramatic, Thursday's early eruption did
not pose an immediate threat to people in the vicinity, Poland said
Observatory staff had left their Kilauea station Wednesday, for a facility at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, after concluding that wind
could carry ashfall their way.According to Poland, the greatest impact was to an area within a few hundred yards of the summit's eruptive
That's where the explosion would have sent hot gas and 1,000-pound rocks soaring. For this reason, the national park has been closed since
last week.But wind is carrying the plume from the eruption northeast, raining ash into nearby communities
Broadcasting on local radio stations, Hawaii Civil Defense officials warned that ash poses the main health threat from the eruption
Residents were instructed to shelter in place if they found themselves in the path of the plume. The spattering had died down on Wednesday
and there were gas rushing sounds.Depending on weather conditions, the USGS said, ash might fall as far as Hilo, 30 miles to the
northeast.The observatory also warned that vog - a noxious smog formed when sulfur dioxide from eruptive vents interacts with water vapor
and oxygen in the air - has been reported in the community of Pahala, southwest of the volcano.Meanwhile, stormy weather caused the ash to
mix with rain, creating a dark paste that coated rooftops and car windshields
In the village of Volcano, barely three miles from the summit, lifelong resident Lance Benevides went through the familiar protocol to cope
with an eruption, including detaching his roof gutters from his water tank to keep ash out of the catchment system that serves as his water
supply.Then he headed to the Volcano Store, a local gathering spot, where he sat with friends and sipped coffee Thursday morning - a ritual
not even Kilauea could disturb
"We all live in a circle around this volcano," said Benevides, 55
"So we know what to do."Though disruptive, even painful for people living near Kilauea - especially those who have already lost their homes
- the eruption will not significantly affect life on the rest of the Big Island, Poland said
"And it is not likely to turn into some catastrophic event," he added.Kilauea, a massive shield volcano on Hawaii's Big Island, is the site
of the world's longest ongoing eruption, one that has oozed lava since 1983
But in recent weeks the volcano has become particularly restless. About 20 fissures opened in communities along the volcano's eastern
slopes, prompting evacuations of nearly 2,000 residents and engulfing dozens of homes in lava.That activity along the East Rift Zone caused
a dramatic depressurization of the magma column below Kilauea's summit, slowly draining the lava lake in the summit crater
In recent days, smaller eruptions there sent ash surging into the sky.But those events were "not the big one" caused by interactions between
hot rock and ground water, Coombs said Tuesday.Thursday's event was, if not the big one, then certainly a big one, researchers said
As the molten rock dropped below the level of the water table, it's likely that water in the surrounding rock began pouring into the vacated
chamber - much the way water rushes to fill a recently dug well, said Charlotte Rowe, a geophysicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory.The
water would then flash into steam, "and steam as we know is a very powerful source of energy, a very powerful propellant," Rowe said.Kilauea
has erupted in this manner before
In May 1924, the Hawaii Volcano Observatory reported more than 50 explosive events over the course of two-and-a-half weeks at the volcano's
summit. The lava lake had drained from the summit crater several months earlier - the scenario now being repeated
The eventual eruptions generated ash clouds more than five miles high and threw blocks weighing as much as 28,000 pounds out of the crater
One person was killed by falling debris from the largest eruption.Coincidentally, Thursday's explosive event comes one day before the 94th
anniversary of that death and on the 38th anniversary of the 1980 eruption of Mount St
Helens in Washington state.What is happening at Kilauea is fundamentally different from that 1980 eruption, experts said
Shield volcanoes like Kilauea produce a runny, basaltic lava that does not tend to erupt as dramatically as steep stratovolcanos like Mount
Helens sits along the geologically active boundary of the Pacific Plate, Kilauea and the other Hawaiian volcanoes are powered by a hot spot
deep within Earth's mantle.But phreatic eruptions can still pose a deadly threat to anyone near the eruptive vent - and they are extremely
difficult to forecast, Poland said
Eruptions involving magma offer warning signs for a potential evacuation, including inflation of the surrounding ground, seismic activity
caused as rocks break and changes in the gases being vented.Phreatic eruptions are "much more random," Poland said
More than 30 people were killed when a 2014 phreatic eruption at Japan's Mount Ontake caught them unaware near the summit.In addition to
monitoring the volcano's current activity, researchers are scouring data from Kilauea's extensive monitoring network - of tiltmeters,
seismometers, and ground and aerial gas detectors - in search of any changes that preceded Thursday's event
Their hope is to pinpoint warning signs that could be used to predict phreatic eruptions in Hawaii and elsewhere.(Except for the headline,
this story has not been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
