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| Credit Depositphotos.com/Charles Taylor |
I’m starting this blog a little different than my norm, with a few facts about our active volcano, and types of lava flows that occur here. The islands of Hawai`i, were formed by hot spots and shield volcanoes millions of years ago. Each island was formed by one or several volcanoes. Eventually through time, erosion led to the islands that stretch about 1500 miles across. The tectonic plate moved east to west, causing the hot spot to form each island, one by one. As you can imagine, because of the movements, the oldest islands are north west, continuing on to the youngest, which is the Big Island of Hawai`i.
The Big island is still growing, and visitors flock to the island to see actual lava flowing from Kīlauea (kee lao way ya) Crater at the Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. The lava that emits from the volcano is of basaltic rock, which brings us to the two types of lava that I want to share with you. Pāhoehoe ( pahh hoy hoy…. or smooth, unbroken rock) and the much rougher of the two called, `a`ā (ah’ ahh). You can visually see the stark differences between both all over the Big Island. I suggest to include a visit to the National Park, and you might be lucky enough to witness the actual flow, which is one of the most amazing things to see……
A hui hou,
Haunani
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