# Kilauea volcano and earthquakes in Hawaii



## Alexa (May 6, 2018)

Anyone follows what's going on in Hawaii ? Several earthquakes and an angry volcano, Kilaunea, enough to scary everyone and evacuate the zone. I wached recently a series of documentary about continents' movements, so I'm a bit sensitive about this kind of phenomenons right now. 

New York Times had an article in February about NASA preoccupation in volcanos and climate changes. Could Kilaunea cool the Earth or this volcano is not big enough ?








Kilauea Volcano Erupts, Spewing Lava and Gases Near Homes in Hawaii
The Next Big Volcano Could Briefly Cool Earth. NASA Wants to Be Ready.


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## Anthoney (May 6, 2018)

I'm following.  I was there in the early 70s during a series of eruptions.  It ended in 74 with a 7.2 magnitude  earthquake.  It was like dancing without moving your feet.


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## Alexa (May 6, 2018)

One of the recent ones reached 6.9, so the situation is quite serious. Do you know if anybody predicted the eruption of Kilauea ? They do have a Center of Volcanology.


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## BAYLOR (May 6, 2018)

Alexa said:


> One of the recent ones reached 6.9, so the situation is quite serious. Do you know if anybody predicted the eruption of Kilauea ? They do have a Center of Volcanology.



It might be just simply a case of a spike in volcanic activity. and nothing more .


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## Alexa (May 6, 2018)

BAYLOR said:


> It might be just simply a case of a spike in volcanic activity. and nothing more .



If this is only a spike, why so many earthquakes in the same time ?


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## BAYLOR (May 6, 2018)

Alexa said:


> If this is only a spike, why so many earthquakes in the same time ?



The Earthquake part , I don't know.  I do find that one troubling .


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## Alexa (May 6, 2018)

When I heard about this volcano and the earthquakes, I had a flashback of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. We are so young compared with the Earth and our lives depend so much on what's going on underneath.





This globe shows the ages of rocks that make up the seafloor of the Atlantic Ocean. The rocks that make up the crust on the ocean's floor are youngest near the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. They are colored red in this picture. The rocks are older (yellow, green) further from the spreading ridge. Molten lava pours out at the mid-ocean ridge. It hardens into basalt rock. Plate tectonics gradually moves the rocky seafloor away from the ridge. The oldest rocks in the Atlantic (blue) are about 180 million years old. (_Image courtesy of NOAA._ )


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## BAYLOR (May 6, 2018)

Alexa said:


> When I heard about this volcano and the earthquakes, I had a flashback of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. We are so young compared with the Earth and our lives depend so much on what's going on underneath.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Have there been any indication increased activity in places like the Ring of fire ?


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## Alexa (May 6, 2018)

BAYLOR said:


> Have there been any indication increased activity in places like the Ring of fire ?



I have no idea.


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## Alexa (May 7, 2018)

It's getting worse. The good news is people had evacuated the zone on time.


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## BAYLOR (May 12, 2018)

Scientists are anticipating huge once in a century. eruption in about a week .


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## BAYLOR (May 13, 2018)

There is some level concern that he volcanoes on the west cost of the US could become more active.


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## Dave (May 13, 2018)

There were very few casualties which is probably a good indication of the island's readiness for this. Many houses lost, but the owners seemed to accept that as a consequence of where they lived. Many people live with this every day - Etna on Sicily in active - Iceland is active - so I found some of the incredulous people on the News reports strange. If they think we have tamed the Earth, then they are very wrong.



Alexa said:


> Could Kilaunea cool the Earth or this volcano is not big enough?


Can't say yet until it finishes, but statistically, it would be unlikely to be big enough - USGS: Volcano Hazards Program

The eruptions discussed there - Mount St. Helen's in 1980, Mount Pinatubo in 1991 - had little cooling effect.  Krakatau in 1883 and Tambora in 1815 did have a large, if temporary, cooling effect, as did the the large 1783-1784 Laki fissure eruption in Iceland.

Interesting figures on that webpage too comparing CO2 with anthropogenic sources - we release the equivalent of Mount St Helen's every 2.5 hours. However, we don't release anything like the dust and SO2 that volcanic activity does, and it is those that cause cooling.


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## BAYLOR (May 13, 2018)

Dave said:


> There were very few  casualties which is probably a good indication of the island's readiness for this. Many houses lost, but the owners seemed to accept that as a consequence of where they lived. Many people live with this every day - Etna on Sicily in active - Iceland is active - so I found some of the incredulous people on the News reports strange. If they think we have tamed the Earth, then they are very wrong.
> 
> 
> Can't say yet until it finishes, but statistically, it would be unlikely to be big enough - USGS: Volcano Hazards Program
> ...



Tamobora's eruption cause the year of no Spring  in 1816 .

Image what the climate effect would be if the Volcanoes on the west coast all started erupting.


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## Dave (May 13, 2018)

BAYLOR said:


> Imagine what the climate effect would be if the Volcanoes on the west coast all started erupting.


It would be the stuff of disaster movies. You cannot think like that though. If you did you would be a constant nervousness wreck. There could equally be a major earthquake in California, or large asteroid could hit the Earth. Or I could get struck be lightning! Or shot by terrorists? Or, much more likely, knocked down by a drunk driver? Or brain haemorrhage? Heart attack?  Would the economic effects be worse than trade tariffs imposed on Californian wine? Isn't it better to take one day at a time?


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## BAYLOR (May 13, 2018)

Dave said:


> It would be the stuff of disaster movies. You cannot think like that though. If you did you would be a constant nervousness wreck. There could equally be a major earthquake in California, or large asteroid could hit the Earth. Or I could get struck be lightning! Or shot by terrorists? Or, much more likely, knocked down by a drunk driver? Or brain haemorrhage? Heart attack?  Would the economic effects be worse than trade tariffs imposed on Californian wine? Isn't it better to take one day at a time?



Im not worried about it. Besides,  if it happened , it's beyond my control anyway.   The west coast volcanoes would have a dire effect  globally but it wouldn't mean the end of civilization .  Worse would be the Yellowstone caldera.  If that one went up, that could topple our civilization, at the very .least.


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## BAYLOR (May 14, 2018)

They're up 17 fissures now. Not a good development .


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## Edward M. Grant (May 14, 2018)

BAYLOR said:


> There is some level concern that he volcanoes on the west cost of the US could become more active.



There's a strange and entirely unexplained correlation between low solar activity and high volcanic activity. It may just be a coincidence, but since we're now in one of the least active periods on the sun for many decades, I wouldn't be surprised to see more volcanoes.


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## Mirannan (May 15, 2018)

The eruptions that cause major climatic effects are the explosive ones, and they have to be really big too. Kilauea is highly destructive, it seems, but it isn't chucking massive amounts of dust and SO2 into the stratosphere - and that's what matters globally.


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## Alexa (May 17, 2018)

Dave said:


> There were very few casualties which is probably a good indication of the island's readiness for this. Many houses lost, but the owners seemed to accept that as a consequence of where they lived. Many people live with this every day - Etna on Sicily in active - Iceland is active - so I found some of the incredulous people on the News reports strange. If they think we have tamed the Earth, then they are very wrong.
> 
> 
> Can't say yet until it finishes, but statistically, it would be unlikely to be big enough - USGS: Volcano Hazards Program
> ...



They really do not have any choice. The evacuation was mandatory. I'm glad I don't live in a zone where I'll be forced to evacuate in a matter of minutes.

Strange thing. I don't remember those from 1980 and 1991, but the name of Krakatau is stuck into my memory since my childhood. It's quite amazing to be able to watch live what a volcano can do. No chance we can tame the Earth. We are just its passengers for a few thousands of years.


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## Dave (May 17, 2018)

I don't think the people I mentioned on "new reports" expressing their surprise were actually from Hawaii. I think people who live in a zone know the power that could be unleashed and have respect for that.

Those really big events were explosive - whole mountains disappearing, being reduced to rocks, dust and ash - the Earth literally shaking - tsunami waves on the opposite sides of oceans. However, there are active volcanoes in many places where people just carry on life regardless. As you say, what choice do they have?


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## Anthoney (May 17, 2018)

Sure, like Pompeii.


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## Mirannan (May 17, 2018)

Incidentally, regarding SO2 I have seen a proposal that would cause global cooling at very little or no cost. It is already true that jet contrails are a major cause of global cooling; since the introduction of passenger jets, cirrus cloud cover over the Atlantic has increased markedly. (The reason is contrails spreading into general cloud cover under the right conditions.)

The proposal is to increase the sulfur content of jet fuel, thus leading to denser contrails which would reflect more sunlight.


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## LordOfWizards (May 17, 2018)

I have always been fascinated with vulcanism and plate tectonics. A couple of things: 1. The ridges in the deep ocean are important for keeping the planet healthy and livable. They are like the recycling centers of Earth’s crust.
2. Volcanic rubble becomes very fertile within less than a century. From this article about Mt. Saint Helens : "...hundreds of square miles of century-old forests destroyed by the eruption have come back, in many ways richer and surprisingly different than before. "


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## LordOfWizards (May 17, 2018)

Mirannan said:


> Incidentally, regarding SO2 I have seen a proposal that would cause global cooling at very little or no cost. It is already true that jet contrails are a major cause of global cooling; since the introduction of passenger jets, cirrus cloud cover over the Atlantic has increased markedly. (The reason is contrails spreading into general cloud cover under the right conditions.)
> 
> The proposal is to increase the sulfur content of jet fuel, thus leading to denser contrails which would reflect more sunlight.



One reason I would be concerned about this "solution": so2 - Sulfur dioxide is the chemical compound with the formula SO ₂. It is a toxic gas with a pungent, irritating smell. A much safer Anti-greenhouse gas is water vapor which is largely what jet contrails are made of. Not that Jets are a solution - they also produce lots of carbon dioxide. I've heard of a new idea that I like for climate change recently. The main threat is to populations that live near the ocean. The idea is to construct some massive automated digger/haulers that could dig something like a moat around major seaside cities. You would start at the back of the city opposite the seafront and stop just short of the ocean on either side. Then slice open grooves as necessary. It would most likely be easier than building walls, although the sea facing side of the city would still require that.


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## night_wrtr (May 21, 2018)

If anyone is interested, there is a live video up at one of the fissures: 




I find it hard not to watch!


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## Alexa (May 21, 2018)

I follow up for the news on CNN. This volcano doesn't want to stop its activity and the lava is in the ocean now.


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## LordOfWizards (May 24, 2018)

Live Lava spewing into the sky. Pretty cool. 

Hawaii's volcano eruption is now producing dramatic blue flames — CNN


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## Alexa (May 24, 2018)

Those blue flames are amazing. I still cannot believe we can see them live.


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## BAYLOR (May 24, 2018)

Alexa said:


> Those blue flames are amazing. I still cannot believe we can see them live.



Methane gas


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## Alexa (May 25, 2018)

BAYLOR said:


> Methane gas



You really think I don't know, Baylor ?


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## Mirannan (May 25, 2018)

BAYLOR said:


> Methane gas



Quite possibly sulfur, too.


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