[Rockhounds] Hawaii's 25th lava anniversary

Mon Jan 7 10:32:16 PST 2008

Thanks, Kitty.
I was there at the time of the Lunar Eclipse in ???; Geology Field Trip fro
Southern Utah U.  We drove to where the lava had crossed the road, and
walked across the lava until we could see the glowing rock dripping off into
the ocean. We saw a twisted metal framework one place where some small
building had succumbed. And also a palm tree trunk laying on the ground that
had not been completely consumed in the fire. Rocks with a golden coating,
and also beautiful blue ones. Angel hair. 
We could also see steam rising from the crater when we were up there. 

Margaret

-----Original Message-----
From: rockhounds-bounces at lists.drizzle.com
[mailto:rockhounds-bounces at lists.drizzle.com] On Behalf Of Kitty & Bill
Heacox
Sent: Sunday, January 06, 2008 6:55 PM
To: Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors
Subject: Re: [Rockhounds] Hawaii's 25th lava anniversary

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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