Hazards posed by Hawaii's erupting volcano.
HONOLULU — Lava is shooting 100 feet to 200 feet into the air as Hawaii's Mauna Loa, the world's largest active volcano,For now, lava is not threatening any homes or communities and no evacuation orders have been issued. Lava could eventually reach neighborhoods as it flows downhill though it could take a week or more for molten rock to reach populated areas.
It sits immediately north of Kilauea volcano, which is well-known for a 2018 eruption that destroyed 700 homes and sent rivers of lava spreading across farms and into the ocean. It's about 200 miles south of Hawaii's most populous island, Oahu, where the state capital, Honolulu, and beach resort Waikiki are both located.
Ken Hon, scientist-in-charge at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, said he doesn't expect additional vents to form on the volcano's southwest rift zone during this eruption. That means communities to the west would be spared lava flows this time. Mauna Loa's magma tends to be hotter, drier and more fluid. That allows the magma's gas to escape and lava to flow down the side the volcano the way it is starting to do now. Mauna Loa is a shield volcano, named because the long, broad flanks built by repeated lava flows give it the appearance of a warrior's shield.that clogged all four engines of a KLM Royal Dutch Airlines jet.
The particles tend not to travel far from volcanic vents — maybe only a few hundred yards or a mile — and won't threaten many people, said Aaron Pietruszka, an associate specialist at the University of Hawaii’s Department of Earth Sciences.
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