Fig. 213. A Portion of the Caldera of Kilauea after a Collapse following an Eruption
The eruptions of the Hawaiian volcanoes are thus of the effusive type. The column of lava rises, breaks through the side of the mountain, and discharges in lava streams. There are no explosions, and usually no earthquakes, or very slight ones, accompany the eruptions. The lava in the calderas boils because of escaping steam, but the vapor emitted is comparatively little, and seldom hangs above the summits in heavy clouds. We see here in its simplest form the most impressive and important fact in all volcanic action, molten rock has been driven upward to the surface from some deep-lying source.
Fig. 214. Pahoehoe Lava, Hawaii
Lava flows. As lava issues from the side of a volcano or overflows from the summit, it flows away in a glowing stream resembling molten iron drawn white-hot from an iron furnace. The surface of the stream soon cools and blackens, and the hard crust of nonconducting rock may grow thick and firm enough to form a tunnel, within which the fluid lava may flow far before it loses its heat to any marked degree. Such tunnels may at last be left as caves by the draining away of the lava, and are sometimes several miles in length.
Pahoehoe and aa. When the crust of highly fluid lava remains unbroken after its first freezing, it presents a smooth, hummocky, and ropy surface known by the Hawaiian term pahoehoe ([Fig. 214]). On the other hand, the crust of a viscid flow may be broken and splintered as it is dragged along by the slowly moving mass beneath. The stream then appears as a field of stones clanking and grinding on, with here and there from some chink a dull red glow or a wisp of steam. It sets to a surface called aa, of broken, sharp-edged blocks, which is often both difficult and dangerous to traverse ([Fig. 215]).