Kilauea | Page 3 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

May 16, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Timeline Tuesday … 1980s

Today’s ‘Timeline Tuesday’ takes us through the 1980s – bombing halted at Kaho‘olawe, Alexander Young Building demolished, enactment of State Water Code and over 1,000 ancient human remains discovered on land being developed by the Ritz-Carlton on Maui. We look at what was happening in Hawai‘i during this time period and what else was happening around the rest of the world.

A Comparative Timeline illustrates the events with images and short phrases. This helps us to get a better context on what was happening in Hawai‘i versus the rest of the world. I prepared these a few years ago for a planning project. (Ultimately, they never got used for the project, but I thought they might be on interest to others.)

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January 30, 2016 by Peter T Young 4 Comments

ʻAilāʻau

The longest recorded eruption at Kilauea, arguably, was the ʻAilāʻau eruption and lava flow in the 15th century, which may be memorialized in the Pele-Hiʻiaka chant. It was the largest in Hawaiʻi in more than 1,000-years.

The flow was named after ʻAilāʻau was known and feared by all the people. ʻAi means the “one who eats or devours.” Lāʻau means “tree” or a “forest.”

ʻAilāʻau was, therefore, the forest eating (destroying) fire-god. Time and again he laid the districts of South Hawaii desolate by the lava he poured out from his fire-pits. (He was the fire god before Pele arrived at Hawaiʻi Island.)

He was the god of the insatiable appetite; the continual eater of trees, whose path through forests was covered with black smoke fragrant with burning wood, and sometimes burdened with the smell of human flesh charred into cinders in the lava flow.

ʻAilāʻau seemed to be destructive and was so named by the people, but his fires were a part of the forces of creation. He built up the islands for future life. The flowing lava made land. Over time, the lava disintegrates and makes earth deposits and soil. When the rain falls, fruitful fields form and people settled there.

ʻAilāʻau still poured out his fire. It spread over the fertile fields, and the people feared him as the destroyer giving no thought to the final good.

He lived, the legends say, for a long time in a very ancient part of Kilauea, on the large island of Hawaii, now separated by a narrow ledge from the great crater and called Kilauea Iki (Little Kilauea).

The ʻAilāʻau eruption took place from a vent area just east of Kilauea Iki. The eruption built a broad shield. The eastern part of Kilauea Iki Crater slices through part of the shield, and red cinder and lava flows near the center of the shield can be seen on the northeastern wall of the crater.

The eruption probably lasted about 60 years, ending around 1470 (based on evaluation of radiocarbon data for 17 samples of lava flows produced by the ʻAilāʻau shield – from charcoal created when lava burns vegetation.) The ages obtained for the 17 samples were averaged and examined statistically to arrive at the final results.

The radiocarbon data are supported by the magnetic declination and inclination of the lava flows, frozen into the flows when they cooled. This study found that these “paleomagnetic directions” are consistent with what was expected for the 15th century.

Such a long eruption naturally produced a large volume of lava, estimated to be about 5.2 cubic kilometers (1.25 cubic miles) after accounting for the bubbles in the lava. The rate of eruption is about the same as that for other long-lasting eruptions at Kilauea.

This large volume of lava covered a huge area, about 166 square miles (over 106,000-acres) – larger than the Island of Lānaʻi. From the summit of the ʻAilāʻau shield, pāhoehoe lava flowed 25-miles northeastward, making it all the way to the coast.

Lava covered all, or most, of what are now Mauna Loa Estates, Royal Hawaiian Estates, Hawaiian Orchid Island Estates, Fern Forest Vacation Estates, Eden Rock Estates, Crescent Acres, Hawaiian Acres, Orchid Land Estates, ʻAinaloa, Hawaiian Paradise Park and Hawaiian Beaches. (USGS)

After a time, ʻAilāʻau left these pit craters and went into the great crater and was said to be living there when Pele came to the seashore far below.

When Pele came to the island Hawaiʻi, she first stopped at a place called Keahialaka in the district of Puna. From this place she began her inland journey toward the mountains. As she passed on her way there grew within her an intense desire to go at once and see ʻAilāʻau, the god to whom Kilauea belonged, and find a resting-place with him as the end of her journey.

She came up, but ʻAilāʻau was not in his house – he had made himself thoroughly lost. He had vanished because he knew that this one coming toward him was Pele. He had seen her toiling down by the sea at Keahialaka. Trembling dread and heavy fear overpowered him.

He ran away and was entirely lost. When he came to that pit she laid out the plan for her abiding home, beginning at once to dig up the foundations. She dug day and night and found that this place fulfilled all her desires. Therefore, she fastened herself tight to Hawaii for all time.

These are the words in which the legend disposes of this ancient god of volcanic fires. He disappears from Hawaiian thought and Pele from a foreign land finds a satisfactory crater in which her spirit power can always dig up everlastingly overflowing fountains of raging lava. (Westervelt)

The ʻAilāʻau flow was such a vast outpouring changed the landscape of much of Puna. It must have had an important impact on local residents, and as such it may well be described in the Pele-Hiʻiaka chant.

Hiʻiaka, late on returning to Kilauea from Kauaʻi with Lohiau, sees that Pele has broken her promise and set afire Hiʻiaka’s treasured ʻōhiʻa lehua forest in Puna. Hiʻiaka is furious, and this leads to her love-making with Lohiau, his subsequent death at the hands of Pele, and Hiʻiaka’s frantic digging to recover the body.

The ʻAilāʻau flows seem to be the most likely candidate because it covered so much of Puna. The timing seems right, too – after the Pele clan arrived from Kahiki, before the caldera formed (Hiʻiaka’s frantic digging may record this), and before the encounters with Kamapuaʻa, some of which probably deal with explosive eruptions between about 1500 and 1790. (Information here is from USGS and Westervelt.)

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Ailaau Flow-Kīlauea summit overflows-their ages and distribution in the Puna District, Hawai’i-Clague-map

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Age and Distribution of Lava Flows in Kilauea-USGS

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January 3, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Collapse to Caldera

The Hawaiian Islands are volcanic in origin. Each island is made up of at least one primary volcano, although many islands are composites of more than one. The Big Island, for instance, is constructed of 5 major volcanoes: Kilauea, Mauna Loa, Mauna Kea, Hualālai and Kohala. Mauna Loa is the largest active volcano on Earth.

Kilauea is presently one of the most productive volcanoes on Earth (in terms of how much lava it erupts each year). The primary volcanoes on each of the islands are known as a shield volcanoes, which are gently sloping mountains produced from a large number of generally very fluid lava flows. (SOEST)

To the casual observer, Kilauea appears to be part of the larger volcano Mauna Loa, but geological data indicates that it is a separate volcano with its own vent and conduit system. (livescience) When Kilauea began to form is not known, but various estimates are 300,000-600,000-years ago. (USGS)

Kilauea is a broad shield volcano built against the southeastern slope of Mauna Loa. The summit presently has a caldera that is roughly 2.5-miles by 2-miles wide, and walls nearly 400-feet. Another feature, known as Halemaʻumaʻu crater, lies within the main caldera (on the southwestern side.)

For the past century, Halemaʻumaʻu has been the principal site of activity at Kilauea’s summit. There has also been frequent activity along the Southeast rift zone (such as the presently active Puʻu ʻOʻo eruption, which started in 1983.)

While at nearby Mauna Loa eruptions tend to occur in pairs (i.e., a summit eruption followed by one on the flank), Kilauea’s pattern of summit versus flank activity appear to be more random. However, evidence of numerous flank eruptions occurring after a summit eruption can be found. (SOEST)

Sometimes, volcano summits form calderas. When an erupting volcano empties a shallow-level magma chamber, the edifice of the volcano may collapse into the voided reservoir, thus forming a steep, bowl-shaped depression called a caldera (Spanish for kettle or cauldron.)

The summit regions of many active shield volcanoes are marked by calderas. Hawaiian examples include the Mokuaweoweo caldera on Mauna Loa and the Kilauea caldera on Kilauea. (sdsu-edu)

So, when and how was the Kīlauea Caldera formed?

The modern caldera at Kilauea collapsed in about 1470-1500 AD, as recognized by geologic field work and C-14 radiocarbon dating. Two lines of geologic evidence indicate it was very deep soon after it formed, as is also suggested by Hawaiian oral tradition.

Scientists suggest at least a couple possibilities exist for the collapse. One is that the magma reservoir emptied rapidly without erupting; the other possibility is that magma withdrawal was prolonged, not rapid, in response to slow eruption of the ʻAilāʻau lava flow (the largest in Hawaiʻi in more than 1000 years.)

The flow erupted on the east side of Kilauea’s summit during a ca. 60-yr period ending in about 1470. It has typical tube-fed formation, consistent with slow eruption. The eruption just predates the caldera – its shield is cut by the outermost caldera fault – and in fact could have ended when the caldera formed. (Swanson)

Geologic evidence indicates that the caldera appeared in about AD 1500, give or take several decades. It developed at the end of, or soon after, a 60-year-long eruption from the ʻAilāʻau shield just east of Kilauea Iki, flooding much of Puna with lava flows. The caldera formed at the start of, or shortly before, a series of explosions that radiocarbon ages date to about AD 1500. (USGS)

However, most geologic models assume very rapid removal of material to form a caldera. The argument is that a large void cannot support itself underground, so an empty volume of a few cubic miles could not exist for long. If so, a huge volume of magma must have almost instantaneously left the reservoir under Kilauea’s summit, leaving a void into which the summit fell.

Both geologic and cultural evidence should exist for such a major volcanic event. Indeed, the events are likely chronicled in the Pele-Hiʻiaka chants. But neither cultural nor geologic evidence tells us where the rocks disappeared when the top of the volcano sunk to form the caldera.

How much material was removed? The volume is uncertain but very large. If the entire caldera formed at one time, scientists estimate a volume of 1.4 cubic miles, equivalent to 780-million loads for a 10-cubic-yard dump truck. That estimate is based on the caldera’s dimensions when first surveyed in the 1820s and on guesses as to how much deeper it might have been. (USGS)

Historical eruptions at Kilauea volcano have occurred from both the summit caldera and from vents along the East Rift Zone. The historical record began with a very explosive eruption in 1790.

After this, the volcano was almost continuously active, mostly showing gentle effusion from a lava lake at the summit until 1924, when it again erupted explosively. The period 1924 to 1955 saw mostly short-duration summit eruptions.

From 1955 to the present Kilauea has seen mostly East Rift Zone activity interspersed with small summit eruptions. Two notable rift eruptions were Mauna Ulu (1969-1974) and Puʻu ʻOʻo (1983-present). Kilauea’s Eruption rate diminished steadily over the first half of the historic period but has been increasing again since 1924. (SOEST)

Since the Puʻu ʻOʻo eruption started on January 3, 1983, the southern part of the caldera has been sinking 2.5-4 inches/year. (USGS)

Currently there are 3 Hawaiian volcanoes that we can be classified as active: Kilauea, actively erupting since 1983; Mauna Loa, which last erupted in 1984 and is building for a new eruption in the next few years; and Loihi, which erupted in 1996.

All three of these active Hawaiian volcanoes share the Hawaiian hot spot, but retain unique volcanic histories and compositions.

The most likely dormant volcanoes are: Hualālai, which last erupted in 1801; Haleakalā, which last erupted in about 1790; and Mauna Kea, which last erupted about 4,000-years ago. (SOEST)

Due to the ongoing eruption, portions of the Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park are periodically closed, due the hazardous and unsafe conditions; check conditions and area closures before venturing.

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CraterRimDrive-dartmouth

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Kilauea-East Rift Zone-Griggs-1985

‎Kilauea-Caldera-Kauahikaua-1997

Kilauea_Overlook-NPS – Ed Shiinoki

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Kilauea

Hawaii-Volcanoes-NPS-map

Hawaii-Volcanoes-Kilauea-NPS-map

Overlook at Jaggar Museum-Shiinoki

Age and Distribution of Lava Flows in Kilauea-USGS

Simplified cutaway view (not to scale) of Kilauea Volcano-Johnson

Ailaau Flow-Kīlauea summit overflows-their ages and distribution in the Puna District, Hawai’i-Clague-map

Ailaau_lava_flow-map-USGS

August 25, 2014 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kīlauea

“A little farther on we entered groves of hala, through which we continued to ride for the rest of our journey. We turned from the road to see the falls of the Kāhili River.”

“Though not large they are beautiful. Here the river falls in a jet of foam over a precipice of about 40 feet into a broad clear basin below….” (Alexander, 1849; (Kīlauea Stream is universally referred to as “Kāhili Stream;”) Cultural Surveys)

Pukui suggests “Kīlauea means “spewing, much spreading;” associated references relate to volcanic eruptions at the place of like name on the Island of Hawaiʻi – typically referring to the rising smoke clouds.

Wichman explains the name as referring to “spewing many vapors” and traces it rather generically to the streams of Kīlauea that flow between the Makaleha Mountains and the Kamo‘okoa Ridge. The name may have originally been in reference to Kīlauea Falls itself. (Cultural Surveys)

The relatively large volume of water flowing over a relatively wide and high drop against the prevailing trade winds (blowing approximately straight up the lower stretch of the valley) can create a large volume of diffuse mist that may have inspired the name of the land. (Cultural Surveys)

In the Māhele, all of Kīlauea ahupuaʻa was retained as government lands; apparently no claims were made by native tenants, although there were several in a low, wide terrace along the stream in the adjoining Kāhili ahupuaʻa.

In January 1863, the approximate 3,016-acres of the Kīlauea ahupuaʻa were purchased by a former American whaler named Charles Titcomb. Titcomb already had land holdings at Kōloa and Hanalei. He was cultivating silkworm, coffee, tobacco, sugarcane and cattle.

Adding other leased land, he and partners Captain John Ross and EP Adams formed the Kilauea Plantation (1863,) and by 1877 the started a sugar plantation, “one of the smallest plantations in the Hawaiian Islands operating its own sugar mill”. (Cultural Surveys)

Hawaiʻi’s earliest history with railroads is often credited to Kīlauea Plantation, whose first system opened in 1881 on three miles of narrow-gauge track to haul sugar cane. Princess Lydia Kamakaeha (Lili‘uokalani) drove in the first spikes for the railroad bed. The plantation infrastructure grew over the next twenty years.

“The transportation system consists of twelve and a half miles of permanent track, five miles of portable track, 200 cane cars, six sugar cars and four locomotives.”

“(Kīlauea) is situated three miles from the landing at Kāhili, with which it is connected by the railway system. Sugar is delivered to the steamers by means of a cable device at the rate of from 600 to 800-bags an hour.” (San Francisco Chronicle, July 18, 1910) The town of Kīlauea originated as the center of the sugar plantation operation; Kīlauea Sugar Plantation closed in 1970.

The Kīlauea School was founded in 1882 as an ‘English School.’ Its 54-pupils were primarily workers’ children from Kīlauea Sugar Plantation. As the Board of Education of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi owned no land in the district, school was held in a Protestant Church and partly in an old building that belonged to the Board.

In 1894, the Board of Education of the Republic of Hawaiʻi was able to obtain a two-acre parcel of land from the plantation and a two-room school and teacher’s cottage were erected (it was situated near Kūhiō Highway and Kalihiwai Road.)

By 1920, the educational facilities were greatly strained as the school boasted 239-students and 7-teachers for grades one through eight. At the end of 1921, Kauai County purchased the present school site and the new school opened September 11, 1922; it has been in use since that time. (NPS)

By the 1890s, much of the old kalo-growing areas of this portion of Kaua‘i were now producing rice, farmed by Chinese immigrants. There were 55-acres of land in rice production in the Kīlauea-Kāhili area in 1892 and eventually a rice mill on Kīlauea Stream.

The mill is known to have been on the stream terrace east of Kīlauea Stream. Rice and vegetable cultivation was also noted along the banks of Kīlauea Stream, circa 1925. (Cultural Surveys)

Built in 1913 as a navigational aid for commercial shipping, the Kīlauea Lighthouse was credited with saving lives, not only of countless sailors lost at sea, but of two fliers on a historic trans-Pacific flight.

When Lt Albert Hegenberger and Lt Lester Maitland were on the first trans-Pacific airplane flight in history (June 29, 1927,) they overshot their course to Oʻahu and became lost.

They heard a strange signal and interpreted it as a radio beacon originating in the Islands. They used the signal to calculate their exact position and made the necessary adjustments to put them on course, thus enabling them to land the ‘Bird of Paradise’ safely at Hickam Field on Oʻahu. (NPS)

Kīlauea Point National Wildlife Refuge, surrounding the Lighthouse, was established in 1985 to preserve and enhance seabird nesting colonies and was expanded in 1988 to include Crater Hill and Mōkōlea Point. The refuge is home to some of the largest populations of nesting seabirds in in the main Hawaiian Islands.

Nearby, Hawaiian Islands Land Trust (HILT) added to an existing preserved property to form the Kāhili Coastal Preserve. The property provides public access to Kāhili Beach while safeguarding the shoreline ecosystem. (HILT)

The image shows Kīlauea Falls, Kauaʻi. In addition, I have added others similar images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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