Hawaii Volcanoes National Park marking 30th anniversary of Kilauea’s ongoing eruption

Tomorrow (Jan. 3) marks the 30th anniversary of Kilauea volcano’s ongoing East Rift Zone eruption. During its first three years, spectacular lava fountains spewed from the Pu u Oo vent. Since then, nearly continuous flow has built a vast plain of slow-moving pahoehoe lava, stretching from the volcano’s rift zone to the Big Island’s shoreline. 

Although the eruption has been relatively quiet during the past year, with mostly steady but unusually weak activity, over the span of three decades it has some produced dramatic lava flows.
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is marking the anniversary with an After Dark in the Park talk, set for Tues., Jan. 7 at the park’s Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium. Tim Orr, a geologist at Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, will review highlights from the past 30 years and talk about recent developments on Kilauea’s East Rift Zone.

The Pu u Oo eruption ranks among the longest-lasting Hawaiian eruptions in recorded history. The first written accounts of eruptions in Hawaii date back to the 1820s, when American missionaries arrived on the Big Island.

Throughout January — dubbed Volcano Awareness month — the free After Dark in the Park will present the following talks: “What’s Happening in Halemaumau Crater?,” “A Below-the-Scenes Look at Kilauea Volcano’s ‘Plumbing’ System,” and “The Story Behind Monitoring Hawaiian Volcanoes: How HVO Gets the Data It Needs to Track Eruptions and Earthquakes.”  For more information about the talks, all of which will be given by Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists, click here.
 
Daily updates on Kilauea volcano activity are available at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory website.

HawaiiMagazine.com has reported regularly on lava activity at Kilauea volcano and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island. Click here to catch up with all of our Volcano News posts. You can also follow our updates on our Twitter and Facebook pages.