Search A Light In The Darkness

Tuesday 8 July 2008

Volcano erupts in spectacular fiery display

Daily Mail (Tuesday 8th July 2008) says: The world's most active volcano has erupted in spectacular fashion on Hawaii, but scientists warn it is spewing more lava than ever before.

Kilauea, meaning 'much spreading', has been continually erupting since 1983, but more molten rock than usual is flowing from an outbreak that started last November.

Lava has been spewing as high as 150ft in the air at temperatures up to 1,200 °C and a surface flow is snaking east from the crater.

Meanwhile underground 'tubes' are expelling lava into the Pacific ocean creating huge clouds of steam and ash.

Scientists at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory have also reported an 'unusually high amount of sulfur dioxide gas' emerging from one of the craters.

Kilauea is a low flat shield volcano. It is the youngest on Big Island and sits on the south-eastern side. The volcano has its own magma-plumbing system, extending to the surface from more than 60 km deep in the earth.