How volcanoes grow

Eaton, J; Murata, K

'Summarizing the state of volcanological knowledge in 1952, Howel Williams observed: 'Much has been learned about the distribution, internal structure, and products of volcanoes, but pitifully little about the causes and mechanism of eruption.' To remedy this deficiency he called for more intensive, continuous observations of well-chosen active volcanoes, with geophysics and geochemistry supplementing the traditional tools of geology. Current investigations of the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory are much like those envisaged by Williams, and they are yielding an exciting new insight into the internal workings of volcanoes. No volcano has influenced our conception of the vital processes of active volcanism more than Kilauea. Geologists drawn to Hawaii by travelers' accounts of fantastic activity at this volcano were so impressed by what they saw that they framed whole theories of volcanic action around it. Even though its prime attraction, the renowned lava lake that circulated almost continuously within its great summit caldera for at least a century, was destroyed in 1924, Kilauea and its giant neighbor, Mauna Loa, have remained very active, one or the other having erupted about once in two years since that date. The comparative simplicity, the large size, and the frequent, voluminous, nonviolent eruptions of Hawaiian volcanoes make them ideally suited to illustrate the fundamental processes of volcanism. Here these processes can be studied safely and conveniently, in isolation from the great complications of structure and contaminating rocks that render most volcanoes so baffling.'

How volcanoes grow

Series