Mauna Loa is the most big volcano Earth. It is located at an altitude of over 4 km above sea level, and its long underwater slopes descend to the seabed for an additional 5 km. This huge volcano covers half of one of the Hawaiian Islands.

Ancient, large and very active

Mauna Loa is one of the most active volcanoes Earth, which has erupted 33 times since its first well-documented historical eruption in 1843. The last time this happened was in 1984. Its area is more than 5 thousand square kilometers. The approximate time of the first ancient suberal eruptions is about 400-700 million years ago.

Where is the largest volcano in the world?

Mauna Loa or " long mountain"translated from Hawaiian is located on the island of Hawaii. This is one of the most active volcanoes on Earth. It's really high and big mountain, occupying half of the island on which it is located. The Mauna Loa volcano is composed primarily of a type of rock known as tholeiitic basalt.

First mention

The earliest written record of Mauna Loa's eruption dates back to 1780, shortly after Captain Cook's first visit to the island. The lava flow observed in 1855-1856 is one of the largest flows ever seen. In 1868, an eruption and earthquake in Hawaii were officially documented, measuring magnitude 8 by modern standards.

Famous shield volcano

The Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii is called a shield volcano. And there are certain reasons for this. In shape it is a relatively long, flat and low volcano. This is because when an eruption occurs, the lava does not explode outwards, which would gradually form a steep, cone-shaped volcano over time, but emits streams that drain a vast area. Does this make the volcano less dangerous? Such seepage can also be quite destructive. Streams running down a slope can cause irreparable harm to both a person and their property in a matter of hours. So, in 1950, an eruption destroyed a nearby village and a local highway.

The volcano continues to grumble

A number of earthquakes were recorded in 2016, but this is nothing unusual. This is the norm for this area. And the location of Mauna Loa is closely monitored today because Hawaii is a popular vacation destination and no one wants to be caught off guard by a volcanic eruption. The area is a great place for tourists.

One of five volcanoes in the Hawaiian Islands

On the Hawaiian Islands, where the Mauna Loa volcano is located, there are 4 more volcanoes, two of which have not shown signs of activity for a long time. The most frightening thing is that it is very difficult to predict where the next eruption will take place, both in terms of timing and the danger zone. Therefore, just in case, a special evacuation center was created. Although Mauna Loa is not explosive and does not produce large amounts of debris or ash clouds when it erupts, its lava flows can still pose a major threat.

Climate Features

The impressive ancient volcano was, and continues to be, an active force in shaping both the Hawaiian landscape and its culture. His restless disposition and presence in general have a great influence on the climate of these places. Winds blow from east to west across the island.

The eastern half of the volcano is characterized by frequent rainfall and lush tropical vegetation.

The western side of Mauna Loa (a photo of it can be seen in the article) is much drier and has less flora and fauna. Higher in the mountains, the temperature drops, and from time to time you can see snow and ice build-up.

Mythology

The native people of the ancient Hawaiian Islands were inspired by Mauna Loa and viewed it with fear and admiration. It's not surprising that some of the most popular and enduring Hawaiian myths involve volcanic activity.

The Hawaiian goddess Pele was a fierce and fiery woman who was revered and feared. She represented fire, lightning, violence and, most importantly, volcanic eruptions.

According to legend, the goddess Pele lived in a crater at the top of Mauna Loa, from where she controlled all natural processes.

Statues and altars were built in her honor on the slopes of the majestic volcano, and people offered sacrifices and prayers to her to appease the deity and prevent the fire from destroying their homes and villages.

This attitude is still felt in Hawaii today, people still have awe and great respect for Mauna Loa.

While beautiful sandy beaches attract tourists to Hawaii; true travelers go a little further from the coast, inland, to look at the no less spectacular volcanoes. And none of them are as big as Mauna Loa.

Exciting excursion to the volcano

Most of Mauna Loa is located in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, where everyone can easily take some excellent photos. But the hike to the very top of the volcano, which usually takes about two grueling days, is only possible for experienced tourists. The park is always open, but the path to Mauna Loa is sometimes closed for safety reasons.

In the vicinity of the volcano, many towns and villages were built and continue to be built. They are based on lava that has been erupting for the last two hundred years. And this is despite the fact that there is a fairly high probability of repeated eruptions, which can lead to the total destruction of nearby settlements.

The park contains two of the most active volcanoes in the world - Mauna Loa (4,170 m high) and Kilauea. Volcanic eruptions create an ever-changing landscape, with lava flows creating amazing geological formations. The park is home to rare species of birds; unique forests of giant ferns grow here.

Hawaiian Islands crown an underwater volcanic ridge and are the highest active volcanoes on earth. Volcanic activity on the largest island of the archipelago, the island of Hawaii, continues to this day. This is where the National Park is located Hawaiian volcanoes.

Hawaiian Volcanoes are national park USA, created in 1916 on the island of Hawaii, the largest of the Hawaiian Islands.

Kilauela Volcano, main volcano park, traditionally considered the sacred home of the volcano goddess Pele. Hawaiians visited the crater to bring gifts to the goddess. The first white people climbed that volcano only in 1823, they were the English missionary William Ellis and the American Asa Thurston. This is what Ellis later wrote about the volcano’s caldera: “A sublime and even terrifying spectacle appeared before us. We stopped in awe. Surprise and awe at other moments made us silent, and, like statues, we froze in one place and our eyes were riveted on the abyss that lies below us." The Kilauela caldera looks like a lake of boiling fiery liquid with an area of ​​4.5 square kilometers and a depth of over 230 meters. Kilauela is one of the most active volcanoes in the world. He has not been able to calm down since 1983. Thomas Jagger built a museum on the edge of that caldera. The exhibits include everything related to volcanoes - scientific equipment, clothing used by volcanologists, and so on. Some museum windows offer wonderful views of the Calauela Caldera and Galemaumau Crater. The museum is named after Jagger, who was also the first director of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, adjacent to the museum. But the entrance to the observatory is closed to tourists. In the park you can see the results of hundreds of thousands of years of volcanic activity. Which shaped the islands themselves and their ecological system. The park covers all heights - from sea level to the top of the island - the Mauna Loa volcano (4169). A Kilauea volcano, one of the most active, gives scientists information about the birth of the Hawaiian Islands and evokes thoughts about the first volcanic landscapes. The park includes 1348 square kilometers.

Volcanoes Park, founded in 1916, is located in the southeast of the Big Island. The area of ​​the park is 1348 sq. km. Here you can see the Hawaiian jungle with giant ferns, unique volcanic formations, and smoking craters.

On the territory of the Park there is a volcanological museum, where films are shown free of charge every day. The main attraction of the park is the Kilauea Caldera volcano with its steamy cracks, sulfur fumes and periodic eruptions. Its two neighbors, the less active Mauna Loa volcano and the dormant Mauna Kea volcano, rise to approximately 4200m. above sea level, while their foundation rests on the ocean floor, which is still about 4800m. Mauna Kea is the most high mountain world, if measured from its base on the ocean floor.

The unique landscape of the park is formed by the activity of volcanoes. Travelers have a unique opportunity to see dormant volcanoes, the slopes of which are already covered tropical forests, and active, smoking craters. Frozen dark volcanic lava slides like a huge black river into the ocean, blocking roads, and forms a bizarre coastline. Where lava hits the ocean, steam rises in the air and arches form. The unusualness of the landscape and its desolation creates the feeling as if you were on the edge of the earth.

The surface of these islands is literally dotted with mounds of craters of extinct volcanoes. Falling to the ground and quickly cooling, the lava took on the bizarre shape of long streams, reminiscent of glassy human hair, which the Hawaiians from ancient times called the Strands of Pele, the goddess of volcanoes. For thousands of years, waves and wind brought spores and plant seeds here, and on the fertile volcanic soil they produced abundant seedlings. This is how this strange, bizarre and defiantly beautiful world arose - Hawaii.

Volcanoes of the island of Hawaii

Hawaii is one of the Hawaiian Islands that are part of Polynesia. The Hawaiian archipelago is located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and consists of eight large islands, 124 small islets, reefs and shoals. In addition, the Hawaiian Islands are the fiftieth state of the United States of America, and of extraordinary beauty.

Islands rise from the depths of the ocean to the very skies. For example, the peak of Mauna Kea reaches a height of 4178 m. In other words, today Hawaii, like other Pacific islands, are the peaks of submerged volcanoes. Another natural attraction of Hawaii is located on the island of Maui - in the area extinct volcano Haleakala is located, famous for its amazing landscapes.

The island of Hawaii is the largest and youngest in the archipelago and also the most extreme: it is located at the southern end of the so-called Hawaiian chain. Moreover, thanks to the constant accumulation of hardening lava on the shores, the island is growing in size day by day. Hawaii is located directly above one of the primary "hot spots" of the Pacific Plate. Lava spilling out of the Kilauea volcano flows to the ocean, burning everything in its path: trees, farmland, and, cooling down from contact with sea ​​water, forms more and more new soil layers.

However, Kilauea is not an ordinary volcano: it is a huge mountain, the top of which forms a crater, or caldera. Red-hot lava flows down the slopes of the mountain. However, it comes to the surface not from a crater, like ordinary volcanoes, but in a much simpler way - from a cone-shaped crevice in the side of Kilauea, called Pu-Oo. Lava from Kilauea, having traveled an 11-kilometer path along the volcano channel, splashes out of Pu-Oo and flows further to the ocean.

Kilauea Volcano has continued to erupt through Pu'o'o since January 3, 1983, making it the longest eruption ever recorded in the Hawaiian Islands. And there is no end in sight for him yet. What is noteworthy is that by 1995, as a result, 202.5 hectares of additional island surface were added, and the daily volume of erupted lava is about 480 thousand cubic meters.

Amazing landscapes of the island of Hawaii

Volcanoes significantly influence the climate on the island of Hawaii. Thus, in the east, humid and foggy weather prevails, as a result of which this area abounds in tropical vegetation, rivers and waterfalls; There are also lush orchid plantations there. On the other side, West Coast mountainous, sun-dried. Sandy beaches stretch along it, and the slopes of ancient volcanoes are covered with coffee plantations.

Inactive volcanoes have long been an integral part of the landscape of the island of Hawaii. And above all this splendor reigns another majestic Mauna Kea volcano. Other amazing volcanoes, previously considered by us, and are located in Ethiopia.

To protect and preserve this unique collection of volcanoes, as well as rare plant and animal species, the United States Congress decided in 1916 to create the island of Hawaii Hawaii Volcanoes National Park(Hawaii-Volkainos), part of . Every year it is visited by about two and a half million tourists who want to see with their own eyes what the forces that created the Earth as we know it are capable of. That is why Hawaiian volcanoes are one of the most impressive wonders of nature and amazing natural beauty.

Hawaiian Volcanoes National Park is the only one of its kind in the United States located at a considerable distance from the mainland.
The park is home to two active volcanoes - Kilauea and Mauna Loa.
Kilauea is the most active volcano in the world and the youngest of the land-based Hawaiian volcanoes: it is only about 300-600 thousand years old. Its restless nature, the impulsiveness caused by the incessant movement of magma, is also indicated by the local Hawaiian name: “ki-lau-za” means “belching”. It has a gently sloping, somewhat convex shield-shaped cone, which is typical of Hawaiian volcanoes, composed of basaltic lava. The cone ends in a vast caldera - a depression similar to a man-made quarry, more than 200 m deep, at the bottom of which is the lava lake Galemau-mau (Halemaumau). The lake seethes and splashes, throwing out fountains of hot drops that can burn through both metal and stone.
From below, from the bowels of the earth, such a gigantic force presses that one lake is not enough for lava to escape, and along the Western and Southeastern rift zones that diverge from the top of Kilauea, there are dozens of small craters and two cones - Puu-Oo and Kupayanaha - from which lava also flows.
No wonder that recent history Kilauea is surrounded by legends. Hawaiians are sure that this is the palace of the goddess of fire, lightning and volcanoes Pele. They named lava formations in her honor: Pele's Tears - lava particles cooled in the air in the form of drops, Pele's Hair - lava splashes that escaped from the depths of the volcano and froze in the wind, Pele's Algae - lava bubbles that cooled and burst when the lava flowed into the ocean.
Another volcano, Mauna Loa, ranks second in the world in terms of volume and height (if you take into account the underwater part) and occupies a good half of the island of Hawaii. It also has a flat top, and a noticeably elongated shape, which is reflected in the Hawaiian name of the volcano, which translates as “long mountain.” The volcano is active, eruptions are frequent here - every 3-4 years. It differs from other volcanoes on the islands in that in winter its top is often covered with snow. According to Hawaiian legends, one of the sisters of the goddess Pele lives in Mauna Loa, and the sisters are at enmity, and therefore a very strong wind often blows between the volcanoes of Mauna Loa.
The first European to set foot on the island in 1778 was the famous English navigator James Cook (1728-1779). After Cook, Catholic missionaries frequented the area and built several churches here.
Subsequently, planters settled here: they appreciated the fertile volcanic soil and set up many sugar cane plantations, for which they brought workers from Asian countries.
In 1916, at the joint demand of the islands' population, scientists and state authorities, a national park was founded and all economic activity within its borders was prohibited.
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is located on the island of Hawaii, in the state of Hawaii, USA. There are two active volcanoes in the park - Kilauea and Mauna Loa.
Hawaiians have gotten used to their noisy neighborhood and even settle near volcanoes, where the soil is richer and nature has provided heating and hot water.
The founders of the park pursued two goals: firstly, to create conditions for scientists studying the history of the emergence of the Hawaiian Islands and the processes of volcanism, and secondly, to satisfy the curiosity of everyone who wanted to enjoy the spectacle of the amazing volcanic landscape, as well as see wildlife local flora and fauna.
Scientists work in a specially created volcanological station, as well as a geophysical observatory - the first permanent observatory of this type in the United States, opened back in 1912. Safe routes have been organized for tourists: in the past, there were often cases when frivolous and arrogant travelers stayed here forever, dying in flows of hot lava.
Hawaiians living around volcanoes have developed a special rhythm of life depending on the eruptions. The soil around volcanoes is very fertile, but during an eruption they release tephra ( volcanic ash), hanging in the air and posing a danger to life. It subsequently falls in the form of acid rain. During this time, the islanders stay away from the volcanoes, doing things like fishing. The situation is recovering quite quickly, and people are returning to their usual activities, cultivating the soil near volcanoes.
But there are areas here where it is completely impossible to live, like the wild Kau desert, completely covered with hardened lava, sand and gravel, irrigated by acid rain. A local landmark - footprints in the ashes of the Kau Desert - were left, according to Hawaiian legends, after the eruption of 1790. It was in this year that Chief Kauhuula and his warriors crossed the desert after defeating Chief Kamehameha, and eighty of his warriors suffocated due to tephra.
The island of Hawaii lies almost 4 thousand km from the nearest mainland ( North America). A unique flora and fauna has formed here, which is constantly threatened by the proximity to volcanoes. Directly near the volcanoes there is no life at all; vegetation - tropical rainforests - appears at the foot and is represented by the tree fern cybotium, the tenacious shrub Freycinetia and small trees of psychotria mariniana. There are almost no land animals (the most common is the hawksbill turtle), but there are many birds, including such colorful ones as the fiery and black-and-scarlet Hawaiian flowerbird.
The closest city to the park is the port city of Hilo, the largest on the island of Hawaii and the second largest after the state capital of Honolulu. The city has long been accustomed to its close proximity to the active volcano Mauna Loa, but it is afraid of something much more dangerous. The fact is that it is located on the shore of the bay of the same name, which has the sad fame of “the all-American tsunami capital”: across the expanses of the Pacific Ocean, tsunamis even from South American Chile and the northern Aleutian Islands reach here, sometimes claiming the lives of dozens of Hilo residents.

general information

Location: North Pacific, Hawaiian Islands.
Administrative affiliation: State of Hawaii, USA.

Official status: national park.

On the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1987
Nearest locality : city of Hilo, 43,263 people. (2010).

Languages ​​of the State of Hawaii: English and Hawaiian.

Ethnic composition of the state of Hawaii: Asians (Filipinos, Japanese, Chinese) - 38.6%, European Americans - 24.7%, mestizos - 14.7%, Hawaiians - 10%, Hispanics (Puerto Ricans and Mexicans) - 8.9%, African Americans and others - 3.1% (2010).

Religions of the State of Hawaii: Christianity (Catholics and Mormons) - 28.9%, Buddhism - 9%, Judaism - 0.8%, others - 10%, non-religious - 51.3% (2000).

Currency unit: U.S. dollar.
Major airport: international Airport Hilo.

Numbers

Park area: 1308.88 km2.

Kilauea Volcano: height - 1247 m, caldera with a diameter of 4.5 km and a depth of over 230 m, rift zones (Southeastern - 125 km, Western - 35 km).

Mauna Loa Volcano: volume - 75 thousand km 3, height above sea level - 4169 m, height including the underwater part - 10,168 m, length of the top - 75 km, width of the top - 48 km, crater with an area of ​​10 km 2 and a depth of 180 m.

Distance between the craters of Kilauea and Mauna Loa: 30 km.
Length of paved roads: 106 km.
Length of hiking trails: 249 km.

Distance: 3900 km west of San Francisco, 4400 km west of Seattle.

Climate and weather

Tropical, trade wind.

Average January temperature: +19°С.

Average temperature in July: +30°С.

Average annual precipitation: up to 2500 mm.
Relative humidity: 70%.

Economy

Service sector: tourism, transport, trade.

Attractions

■ Natural: Kilauea Volcano (Kīlauea Caldera, Galemau Mau Lava Lake, Puu Oo and Kupaianaha Cones), Kau Desert, Mauna Loa Volcano (Ainapo Trail), Kipuka Puaulu (Bird Park), Thurston and Pua Caves -Loo (lava tubes), Chain of Craters road.
■ Historical: 1790 Footprints, Wilkes Camp (1840), Volcano House (historic tourist houses, 1877), Volcano Observatory (1912), Ainahoo Ranch, or New Earth(1941), historic district Puna Kau, Puu Loa petroglyphs.
■ Others: art gallery, Volcano Arts Center (“Volcano House”), Thomas Jaggar Museum.

Curious facts

■ The first eruption of the Kilauea volcano known to Europeans occurred in 1823. Significant eruptions were noted in the 1950s. Last thing large-scale eruption the Kilauea volcano occurred in 1983-1985, and since then it has not stopped.
■ The city of Hilo, the closest to the park, is located in a humid tropical climate zone, it has the third highest rainfall in the United States (after the Alaskan cities of Ketchikan and Yakutat) and one of the rainiest in the world: over 5000 mm of precipitation falls here per year. It rains in the city intermittently for up to 280 days a year, and on November 2, 2000, a record was set: almost 70 cm of rain fell in one day.
■ Scientists explain the constant seething volcanic lake Galemau Mau is that a column of volcanic gas constantly emerges from below, which bursts to the surface and causes the entire lake to gush with splashes.
■ The lava that covers 90% of the Kilauea volcano is about a thousand years old, and the oldest is 2100-2800 years old.
■ Kau Desert - popular place on foot tourist routes, but during periods of special volcanic activity it is closed to visitors due to the increased concentration of poisonous volcanic gases brought by the trade winds.
■ The level of the boiling lava lake Galemau Mau is not constant, but sometimes it rises so high that no more than 30 m remains to the edge of the caldera (its depth is 230 m).
■ Pro-following Hawaiian community national traditions, including in the spelling of names, proposed renaming the park Hawaiian Volcanoes National Park, but the proposal was not supported at the federal level.
■ The elepaio bird, which lives in the park, occupies an important place in the folklore of the islanders. Hawaiians believe that elepaio helps canoe builders select the best wood for the boat's hull. While in the forest, Hawaiians monitor the behavior of the elepaio: if the bird lands on a tree trunk, it means there are a lot of wood-boring insects in it, but if it does not show any interest in it, then the tree is clean and suitable for building a canoe.
■ The greatest danger to the animal and flora The national park is represented not by volcanoes, but by alien species of animals brought here, especially mongoose, wild boar and goat.
■ Cave drawings Puu Loa is the largest collection of ancient petroglyphs on the Hawaiian Islands: there are about 20 thousand of them.
■ The caves of the Hawaiian Volcanoes National Park are lava tubes, natural channels formed due to the uneven cooling of lava flows: when the surface layer of lava has already hardened, under its crust the lava continues to move and forms complex systems of channels. The length of the caves can reach several kilometers, the height of the vaults can be several meters. The world record belongs to the Kazumura Cave on the slope of the Kilauea volcano, its length is 65.5 km, and the elevation difference is 1101 m.
■ In the area of ​​volcanoes, sulfur deposits come to the surface; volcanic gases, which contain a lot of hydrogen sulfide, leak here. Therefore, the park administration does not recommend visiting these places for visitors with heart or respiratory diseases (in particular, those suffering from asthma), pregnant women, and young children.

I have already shown you a rather popular one on the Internet, but now I will show you a popular volcanic place for tourists. There is lava literally under your feet. This place is considered a “mecca” for photographers and volcanologists.

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park(Hawai"i Volcanoes National Park) is located on the island of Hawaii (Big Island), in the state of Hawaii, USA. The park was founded on August 1, 1916 and has an area of ​​1348 km². Here you can see the result of thousands of years of volcanic activity with a history of 70 million years.

The park is home to 2 of the world's most active active volcano, the highest of which, Mauna Loa, has a height of 4,169 m. The largest eruptions were observed in 1924, 1982 and in March 2008.


The unique landscape of the park is formed by the activity of volcanoes. Travelers have a unique opportunity to see both dormant volcanoes, the slopes of which are already covered with tropical forests, and active, smoking craters. Frozen dark volcanic lava slides into the ocean like a huge black river, blocking roads and forming a bizarre coastline. Where lava hits the ocean, steam rises in the air and arches form. The unusualness of the landscape and its desolation creates the feeling as if you were on the edge of the earth.



The eruption of Hawaiian volcanoes continues to this day. In the park, those located here can see different forms of volcanoes and their eruptions.

Watching a volcano erupt is very, very interesting, but it is very dangerous, which means you can look at it from photographs, it is no less interesting, flowing lava often forms such interesting patterns

This interesting park was created in 1916 on the island of Hawaii, the largest of the Hawaiian islands, the park area is 1348 square kilometers.

It is also interesting that these ancient volcanoes formed land in the middle of the ocean, here you can see thousands of years of changes in the world.


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On July 5, 2008, the main volcano, Kilauea, awoke. Streams of hot lava flowed straight into the ocean. You can drive and walk along one of the most active volcanoes on earth today, Kilauea. True, its most central part - the caldera (Caldera - zone of subsidence of soil in the center of the crater) measuring 3 by 5 sq. km - is fenced for safety reasons. The volcano can be studied using telescopes mounted on observation deck with explanatory stands.

Most large volcano in this park it is Kilauela, it is the main volcano of the park, traditionally considered the main home of the volcano goddess Pele. The first Hawaiians visited this crater to bring gifts to this goddess.


The eruption of the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii began on January 3, 1983 and is currently ongoing.

Americans joke that "Hawaii is the only state that is growing in size." But, unfortunately, the lava also destroyed 189 buildings and covered 14 kilometers of roads with a layer of 35 meters in places.


The volume of lava erupted by the volcano was more than 3.1 cubic meters in 2007. km. Lava covered about 117 square meters. km. , the area of ​​the island during this time increased by 201 hectares.


The lava is creeping towards Gary Slake's house, which in a few minutes will disappear in a blaze of fire.

Gary Slack and his wife sit for the last time on the terrace of their house, watching the forest burn


And here comes the culmination, you stand and watch your house burn, and no one can do anything, nature once again proves that man is by no means the most important person on this planet.

Meet Goddess Pele:

In Hawaiian religion, Kilauea is the home of the goddess Pele, the goddess of volcanoes.

The giant almost round dark gray bowl of the Halemaumau crater located inside Kilauea is considered sacred for the Hawaiians - according to legend, the abode of the volcano goddess Pele. The eruption of this volcano in 1952 lasted 136 days and led to the appearance of a lake of lava, now cooled. Along the periphery of the craters, thorns typical of deserts grew, and some cacti bloomed beautifully.



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Every second the area of ​​the island increases. Lava erupting into the ocean cools and creates new formations that increase the area of ​​the island. There is a possibility that volcanic shelves and new formations on the coast will break off and sink into Pacific Ocean. If 560 acres of volcanic rock collapsed into the ocean, it would be another disaster. A huge earthquake or tsunami could occur. And this could be the greatest of disasters. Some of the debris could form volcanic islands like Molokai. This will be a catastrophe on a universal scale.


The park includes a large area, and all heights, from sea level to the very high volcano, the top of the island, the Maunu Kea volcano, its height is 4,205 meters. It begins at a depth of 6,000 meters, which is even higher than Everest.

Strange, but true, the Hawaiian jungle grows on the island, and just giant ferns also live on the island unique species birds. How do they live here?

This park attracts many volcanologists who study these amazing creations of nature. In addition, numerous tourists visit Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to admire the unique landscape.



The climate in this park is very diverse, ranging from the barren Kau desert to tropical rain forests. Approximately 50% of the park is wilderness, where hiking. The national park has enormous natural value, so in 1980 it was awarded the status of an International Biosphere Reserve, and in 1987 it was included in the List world heritage UNESCO. The unique landscapes of the park attract about 2.5 million tourists every year.

In 1823, Westerners visited Kilauea Volcano for the first time. These were the American Asa Thurston and the English missionary William Ellis. Since that time, more than one million tourists have visited the Hawaiian Volcanoes Park to see with their own eyes the movement of hot lava flows.

Beginning in the 1840s, Kilauea Volcano became a tourist attraction. Local businessmen George Lycurgus and Benjamin Pitman built hotels here to accommodate tourists. Tourist pilgrimages increased, and in 1911, Hawaii Governor Walter Frear introduced a bill to create “Kīlauea National Park.”

However, this bill met fierce opposition from ranchers who were located in the area. Only the support of former US President Theodore Roosevelt tipped the scales in favor of creating a national park. On August 1, 1916, Halekala National Park became the first national park in Hawaii and the 11th in the United States. In September 1960, Hawaiian Volcanoes National Park was separated from it.

Today, the national park provides an opportunity to explore Kilauea without risking your life. But this is one of the most active volcanoes in the world.

Moreover, the volcanoes in Hawaii do not have a conical shape, like most volcanoes on our planet, but a shield shape, which was formed as a result of many eruptions of liquid lava. Volcanoes that emit basaltic lava have a shield shape. It has a lower viscosity, so it spreads over long distances from the eruption site. Mauna Loa, the largest volcano on our planet by volume, which occupies half of the largest Hawaiian island, also belongs to this type.

However, the most attractive for tourists is the Kilauea volcano. There is a 17-kilometer road around it, which provides comfortable access to the fantastic attractions located here. Despite the fact that Kilauea is the most active volcano on Earth, it is safe for visitors,

Sometimes the lava rolls straight into the sea, so the shore gradually increases in size.

In addition to the volcanoes themselves national park there are many caves that are lava tubes. They were formed as follows: when the upper part of the lava solidified, its main volume continued to move, leaving behind empty space. The most famous cave in Hawaii is the Thurston Lava Tube, which is open to the public daily.

Every day, 300 thousand cubic meters of lava erupt from Kelauea. This is enough to fill 40 thousand garbage trucks. This boiling cauldron can be deadly. Sulfuric acid emissions smell like a million rotten eggs. These fumes are hazardous to health.

Lava is constantly moving towards the ocean

The image shows the six major islands of the Hawaiian archipelago, from left to right: Oahu, Molokai, Lanai, Maui, Kalohave and Hawaii - the most big Island. The archipelago also includes two more large islands and 124 small ones. All the islands of the archipelago are of volcanic origin. The image is compiled from three images taken on March 27, 2006, April 16, 2007 and January 21, 2008 from the same point. Colored dots indicate that geological changes have occurred in this place. Satellite data shows that the volcanoes are very active. The Hawaiian Islands are generally one of the most volcanically active regions.

The first white people climbed that volcano only in 1823, they were the English missionary William Ellis and the American Asa Thurston. This is what Ellis later wrote about the volcano’s caldera: “A sublime and even terrifying spectacle appeared before us. We stopped in awe. Surprise and awe at other moments made us silent, and, like statues, we froze in one place and our eyes were riveted on the abyss that lies below us."


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Solidifying lava. Thomas Jagger built a museum on the edge of the caldera. The exhibits include everything related to volcanoes - scientific equipment, clothing used by volcanologists, and so on. Some museum windows offer wonderful views of the Calauela Caldera and Galemaumau Crater. The museum is named after Jagger, who was also the first director of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, adjacent to the museum. But the entrance to the observatory is closed to tourists.