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While in class, we have learned many things about the earth and its elements that are within it. One thing about the earth that we have learned about is volcanoes. The text describes a volcano as a hill or a mountain that is constructed by the extrusion of lava or rock fragments from a vent (Plummer, 2007). A volcano consists of a volcanic cone, craters, vents, necks and fissures within its physical form. But volcanoes have more to them that isn’t seen so easy from a distance, volcanoes also consist of magma and lava.
Magma is the molten rock and trapped gasses that are found beneath the Earth’s surface. Lava is the molten rock that is found on or above the Earth’s surface. When given the assignment to write on a specific volcano, I chose to write about Mount Kilauea . The volcano Mount Kilauea is located in the state of Hawaii and it can be found on Hawaii ‘s biggest island which is Mauna Loa. In the Hawaiian language the name Kilauea means “spewing” or “much spreading” because of the mountain’s constant outpouring of lava (Wikipedia).
Mount Kilauea has been expelling lava on a consistent basis since January of 1983. With this in mind, it makes Mount Kilauea the most active volcano on the planet. Also because of Mount Kilauea ‘s continuous activity, it is a major attraction for scientists and tourists. Kilauea Is located at the coordinates of 19 25’ N, and 155 17 W and it is 4091 feet about sea level. The physical description of Mount Kilauea is very different from many other volcanoes around the world. Kilauea is a very low, flat shield volcano which makes it different from many other volcanoes that have high slopping peaks.
When focused on the history of Mount Kilauea ‘s eruptions, it is found that eruptions are either found on the summit or along the East and Southwest rifts that are found on the volcano. The recent eruptions that Kilauea has had have been very continuous and many of the lava flows have reached the Pacific Ocean shore. Kilauea has had about 45 different eruptions within the twentieth century. One major eruption that Kilauea experienced was on May 24th 1969 and it lasted till June 22nd 1974. This eruption was the longest eruption that Hawaii had ever experienced.