Molten Mystery

Kilauea’s longest continuous eruption amazes and mystifies spectators.

- Lois Whitney

A lot can happen in 30+ years. Babies, careers, marriages - many milestones mark the passing of time between the bookends of three consecutive decades. But for a volcano like Kilauea, such an epoch just barely scratches the surface of history.

Scientists say that the fiery dome first erupted over two and a half millennia ago, when the shield volcano first start spilling lava onto the landscape. Flash forward through alternating periods of sporadic explosive activity and quiet, short-lived eruptions and you will better understand the vulcanologists’ excitement over a 30+ year rift zone eruption.

New technology has allowed for better mapping of the history of the volcano’s flows, identifying thousands of individual layers of lava deposited various eruptions. Moreover, the steady stream of fresh lava flowing over the last 30+ years has given scientists unprecedented opportunities to learn how volcanoes work.