Hanzo!!! Kilauea's Erupting (discussion thread)

Very briefly and for visualization purposes, not particularly precise scientifically:
Magma rises thru the volcano chimney and slowly raises the dome within the crater. (Crater was formed sometime in the long ago past by a violent expulsion of whatever accumulated before then.)
As the dome increases, pressure in the crater goes up until it bursts thru the weak spots in the side of the cone, until, well, we see the results. I have not done so, but a nickle says that the open fissures lie along a line of sorts, a weak strata somewhat loosely compared to an earthquake type fault. As the magma runs out, the dome that covered it just caves in.
Where it all goes, well, it builds up on the sides of the cone, there are any number of pix on line that show some of the depth. Some of the escaped flow is cooler than the rest and settles out and cools more. The hotter flows just run like water until cooled by whatever it hits, That it's the sea water just happens to be where gravity took the fluid.

 

Yeah, it's very fascinating. For as much as I've digested on the subject, I am still in awe at the power of this planet, it's incalculable. Scientists still haven't figured out everything, there's much about the inner core and mantle that still remains a mystery, but they do have a pretty good idea how it all basically works based on the geological evidence found all over. I find it interesting how the minerals found in past lava flows and eruptions can give an idea on how it may have happened and where the magma came from. We know there's subduction zones on the ocean floor, and with this in mind they can draw some conclusions. The sea water will also leave clues, and the amount of silica in the lava as well, giving us an idea as to where the subduction occurred. Scientists have also discovered numerous vents on the ocean floor, because it just makes sense. The Hawaiian islands were formed by a hotspot, and as the Pacific Plate moves, the hotspot in the crust/mantle continues to do its work, spewing out magma from relatively the same point. This can be seen from Google Earth, as the chain of activity leads all the way back up to Siberia. The volume of magma is a continuous affair, as the Earth is constantly drawing in and exhaling its outer surface in an incredibly powerful symphony of fire.

One fact I also find interesting is the explosive reaction between water and heated magma inside the Earth. When we have subduction on the sea floor, the water is also drawn in. Also, fracking and oil drilling can add to seismic activity despite the objection to it happening from USGS and other corporate ventures. When waste water is pumped back into the earth, sometimes miles beneath the surface, this causes pressure and the heated water makes steam, and we all know that something has to give. There are tens of thousands of oil wells and many more fracking locations all over, and seismicity has increased greatly in areas where this occurs.

And yes, there is an active drilling operation that was ongoing in Hawaii, I've been checking into it. Not that nature needs any help with this very active hotspot to start with, but it is still a fact. I believe Israel may be tied to the ownership of the operation. There's no need to put on a tinfoil hat with this one, there's plenty of non-corporate, private scientific research and studies out there (also from Canada) which allows us to determine how fracking and oil drilling waste water deposits may cause some seismic problems, and at the very least it can set off a chain reaction. When you set off the pressure on certain points in the Earth's crust, all that energy has to go somewhere. The reverberations and tremors lead to pops and leaps, and a subduction area could jolt forward, leading to increased pressure forcing outward, creating more release of tension in the crust, and tectonic plates shift abruptly, taking everything on the surface for a ride. And that's not the end, either. This energy is always transferred, it is not wholly absorbed and destroyed. Pressure builds up along fracture lines, and new boundaries are set. Sometimes they hold for a while, maybe a thousand years, and sometimes they degrade rapidly or place increased pressure on the opposite side of an ocean, which starts the whole process over again. We're seeing volcanoes erupting that have been dormant for hundreds and even thousands of years. I'm not saying it's entirely oil drilling and fracking to blame, but I'd be willing to bet dollars to donuts it plays a part.

 

Thanx, DKR. Funny, isn't it, how the volcano is taking a back seat to mad maxie's ravings?

 

Many people see these eruptions as a bad thing when it's actually very good, not to mention normal. If the lava wasn't actively making its way to the ocean and all the pressure built up, new pockets would form until it found a weak point. The new weak point would then form a new series of channels and with the right conditions, such as a large eruption and subsequent earthquake, a new island could be formed. But, as long as it's flowing, it will continue to build the main island. The only exception would be if there's a massive quake in the realm of 8+ that could potentially shift the plate enough so the hotspot was no longer over the bulk of Hawaii and then the same result would occur, a new island.

Our puny lifespan is nothing compared to the majesty of Earth's building, but it would be fascinating to behold the making of a new Hawaiian island, even if we'd only get to see a small fraction of its process.

 

No, it's a constant, not a singular condition. The Earth's core is always moving and flowing, and material is taken in (subduction) from the sea floor all the time, just as it is deposited (eruption) onto the surface. Also, with really big quakes, we see large areas of land pushed upward (mountains), with the opposite affect being the subduction of land back into the Earth's mantle and core. The planet is always in this state of birth and rebirth, a renewal process that will continue as long as it spins around our star. When one plate goes up, another is going down.

There are massive sinkholes in Russia, for example. Much of it has to do with the composition of the land, I'm not too educated on the sinkhole factor of volcanic tubes and such, but in highly active regions like Hawaii, there are some tunnels I wouldn't want to be near for even a minute.