Volcanoes with bad hearts are tumbling down all over
Kerr RA. 1994. Volcanoes with bad hearts are tumbling down all over. Science. 264(5159):660
'Volcanologists used to think that as long as a volcano wasn't rumbling, belching ash, or spurting lava it was innocuous. But don't try telling that to Paul Segall of Stanford University and his colleagues, who have been using satellite measurements to monitor the behavior of Kilauea volcano on the southeast coast of the island of Hawaii. On the mountain's south flank, they find, more than 5000 cubic kilometers of rock are moving toward the coast at geologically breakneck speeds of up to 25 centimeters per year. 'It's the biggest thing on Earth that's moving like this,' says volcanologist Richard Fiske of the National Museum of Natural History. 'Ultimately, there's going to be some sort of failure, though we don't know when.' Should Kilauea give way, the result will be far more destructive than any of the volcano's recent gurglings.'
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Kerr, Richard
- Units
- HAVO
- Keywords
- earth movements, Hazard, Kilauea South Flank, Kilauea Volcano HI, Landslide, Physical Sciences, Tectonics, Volcanoes