[Rockhounds] Hawaii's 25th lava anniversary PS

Sun Jan 6 18:11:27 PST 2008

For some reason the link I added for item number 9 in the Eruption 
Timeline did not show up in the post as it appeared to my 
computer.  So I'll type it again rather than copy & paste as I did before:

http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/kilauea/update/archive/2002/Jul/

Aloha, Kitty

At 03:55 PM 1/6/2008, you wrote:

>Three days ago Hawaii celebrated the 25th anniversary of continuous lava
>activity at Kilauea Volcano.  If you google:
>  <  Kilauea eruption 25th anniversary  >
>you'll find several stories.   Bill and I recall seeing TV news
>clips when it began.  I was teaching at Hawaii Prep Academy in
>Waimea, so I couldn't get away on weekdays to make the nearly 2-hour
>drive to the volcano.  I recall one Saturday when the morning radio
>news said there was high fountaining I took off as soon as Saturday
>morning classes were over (private boarding school---they had regular
>classes from 8 to 11am on Saturdays) and headed south.  I reached
>the place where one can see Pu'u O'o from the road, and there was nothing
>to be seen but a few wisps of smoke.  I looked at the time:
>12:55pm.  I drove on to the Park Headquarters and asked at the
>information desk.  They said the fountaining had stopped at
>12:47.&nbsp; I'd missed it by a measly 8 minutes!
>
>
>In 1990 we watched with fascination, sadness and awe as lava inexorably
>advanced toward the village of Kalapana and eventually destroyed almost
>all the homes and businesses.  The flows were mostly a'a, the
>clinky, chunky, slow-moving stuff, so people had plenty of time to remove
>their valuables and pets from their homes, and some even valiantly fought
>the walls of red stuff with garden hoses.  Fortunately there were no
>injuries or fatalities, because the pahoehoe flows---which can move as
>fast as 35mph I've heard---were farther away from the actual
>village.   There was one dramatic moment caught on TV news
>video:  a wall of lava about 8 feet high had been gradually
>advancing towards a beautiful log home;  the family (parents and 3
>teen-age kids) who lived there were frantically spraying the lava and the
>house with garden hoses.  The lava stopped for  couple of
>hours, and the exhausted family rested.  Then there was some
>crackling sounds and the wall began to glow and move forward again.
>Authorities forced the family and news crews to move back.  As the
>lava got within 3 feet of the house suddenly the entire structure burst
>into flame and was reduced to ashes in a matter of minutes.
>
>
>
>Several years later when lava was going into the sea, again I was
>teaching (this time in a public school in the town of Laupahoehoe, 30
>miles north of Hilo), again I could not get free during the school day,
>so my husband, Bill, and brother, Dan went down to take a look (Bill
>didn't have to teach a class at the university that day, and my brother
>is retired).  They came back that evening with wonderful accounts of
>being able to climb down to a black sand beach and walk right up to the
>lava.  They poked sticks and tossed rocks into it, and had to
>carefully shield their faces when the breeze drifted the steam cloud
>toward them that forms when the lava strikes the ocean.  That was a
>Friday, so the next morning I was off at dawn to see what they had
>seen.  By the time I reached that location, the lava had changed
>course and was now a half mile away, with extremely rough terrain in
>between, way too far for me to hike.  So it wasn't until September
>22, 2002 that I was able to get up close and personal with the red stuff,
>and at that time I wrote a detailed account for this List, and Kreigh put
>it---with pictures---on his website [
>
>http://Tomaszewski.net/Kreigh/Minerals/FieldTrips.shtml
>]
>
>
>Below is a summary of the past 25 years at Kilauea.  At number 9
>below is a link to photos of lava entering the sea.  There are many
>days, months and even years of such photos, so beware...you may end up
>spending a while ohhhing and ahhhhing at the spectacular sights.
>
>
>Aloha, Kitty
>
>
>Eruption Timeline
>
>
>Note: Information For This Abbreviated Timeline Comes From The U.S.
>Geological Survey.
>
>
>1. January 3, 1983: Lava erupts from a line of fissures in a remote part
>of the East Rift Zone of Kilauea Volcano. Over time, activity converges
>around a single vent.
>
>
>2. 1983 to 1986: Episodes of high fountaining turn this vent, known as
>&quot;Pu'u 'O'o,&quot; into an 836-foot cone.
>
>
>3. July 1986: Pu'u 'O'o falls silent as lava reaches the surface from a
>new vent to the northeast. The vent is called
>&quot;Kupaianaha.&quot;
>
>
>4. 1990: The village of Kalapana is destroyed when lava from Kupaianaha
>breaks out of its tube system and takes a new path to the sea. The
>historic Star of the Sea Painted Church is hoisted from its foundations
>and moved to safety.
>
>
>5. November 1991: New fissures open between Pu'u 'O'o and Kupaianaha, and
>erupt for three weeks.
>
>
>6. Feb. 7, 1992: Kupaianaha vent stops erupting. Ten days later, lava
>returns to Pu'u 'O'o. A lava shield grows against the southwest side of
>the cone for the next five years.
>
>
>7. Jan. 30, 1997: Pu'u 'O'o partially collapses and new fissures appear
>around Napau Crater. The episode lasts for about 24 hours.
>
>
>8. Feb. 24, 1997: After a 23-day pause, lava returns to Pu'u 'O'o and
>once again begins a march to the sea. This episode will continue for the
>next 10 years.
>
>
>9. July 21, 2002:  Lava enters the ocean with spectacular effects
>recorded in photos at:
>
>
>
>
>10. June 19, 2007: A brief eruption on the flank of Kane Nui O Hamo
>
>
>
>
>
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>
>
>
>
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