HAWAIIAN ERUPTION

Shannon News, 18 June 1926, Page 1

HAWAIIAN ERUPTION

ACTIVITY OF MAUNA DOA.

LAVA FLOWS INTO THE SEA

HUNDREDS OF EARTHQUAKES.

The latest advices from the Hawaiian Volcana Observatory give some indication of the magnitude of the eruption of Mauna Loa, which began on April 10. Mauna Loa, after rising for 18,000 ft under water from level, and forms the centre of the the floor of the Pacific Ocean, towers southern portion of the main island of Hawaii.

Since its outburst in 1919, it had been more or less quierft. The elaborate system of seismograph and other scvientific instruments at the observatory recored no “swarm” of earthquakes preceding the outbreak, though the instruments registered numerous “shakes” afterwards. The activity commenced at 3 a.m. on April 10. Actual warning quakes, which were not noticeable until one hour before that time, were felt over the eastern half of the island ana very soon afterwards the lava made its first appearance. Mauna Loa had attracted considerable interest, however, for some time prior to the outbreak, on account of a slight easterly tilt from 1925 onward and because, though the volcano had been quiet for over six years, which is a rather unusually long space in the cycle between activities, a number of large earthquakes had been felt. Also, for the previous twelve months a very dry spell had been noted on Mauna Loa’s summit, snow having been, scarce during the winter, and the entire island of Hawaii had suffered an unusaily dry spell. Devastation by Lava Streams.

Immediately the activitiy commenced, rising fume columns reflecting the glare from the fire fountains and the flows, cast a pinkish glare over the entire island and made the reading of large print possible at the observatory 24 miles away. Observers were at once despatched to the scene of action. During the following two weeks one Or two major lava flows, as they progressed in their courses toward the sea, created alarming havoc. They advanced into the timber belt, and caused fires. Various upland paddocks adjacent to the burning forests were smothered and destroyed as the lava was pushed onward by the pressures behind. One flow has been dscribed as “a red hot landslide of tumbling block lava 500 l’t. of 6ft. wide and travelling at the race of 6ft to Bfit a minute.” By April 17 it had increased in size and assumed a delta shape, being 25ft to 50ft high, and 150 ft in width. Its forward creep had decreased to 21ft a minute over flat country. The next day it overwhelmed houses and befor long buried the village of Hooploa on the south-west coast, and oozed into the harbour. There was no loss of life.

When the lava came into contact with the sea, thudding explosions ana prolonged roars of escaping steam rent the air. The steam shot up black sand and small pebbles. Fish were killed by thousands. Army aviators flew over the entire district and photographed the waste of destroped ranch houses on the slopes, and the immense smoking columns and new cones in the active area or many square miles. During the week ending April 14, a total of 376 earthquakes were recorded, 363 occurring during the four days following the outbreak. As th e number of quakes decreased, so their intensity increased. Several of them were so severe that the seismographs at Hilo and Volcano had to be dismantled.

Passivity of Halemamnau. The other volcanoes were' noticeably more active. Increased avalanching, abundant floor vapours, fume jets, rifts and slight tilits were observed. This sympathy of the other volcanoes on the island with Mauna Loa is causing a close watch to be made . Halemaumau, at one time a mass of fiery lava, and so called the

“’House of Everlasting Fire,” but since become dry and dusty with but little steam escaping, was the scene of small avalanches but this is not surprising when its unstable and towering 1200 ft walls are considered and that severe quakes as many as 70 each day, strong enough to overturn objects, were experienced.

In connection with Halemaumau it is recalled that during the last two years, when it has been so inactive, the natives alanned at the decrease in tourists, gathered at the edge of Halemaumau’s walls and offered up fruit, roasted pigs, prayers and incantations to the goddess of the crater to awaken her from her sleep. Apparently the goddess has obliged her simple worshippers, and caused her neighbouring volcanoes to return to their beauty and terror. The natives simple faith will most likely be still further rewarded, for Dr. T. A. Jaggar, the officer in charge of the odservatory, in concluding his observations, says that “Halemaumau may have its bottom disturbed fr£m below and it will be watohed with interest.”