Cause And Effect Of Mauna Loa Volcano

Do you know what the biggest active volcano in the world is? Mauna Loa is so big in volume and so heavy that it causes the Pacific Plate that it sits on to sag under its weight! Although Mauna Loa has not erupted as many times as its sister, Kilauea, it has caused more damage with every earthquake and explosion it has had. The elevation of Mauna Loa is 13,678 ft and its height from the ocean floor is 30,080 ft. Mauna Loa is a shield volcano, but it can develop into a cinder cone. It has had 33 eruptions and in most of the eruptions, an earthquake has preceded the eruption. The most famous eruptions occurred in 1950 and 1984. On June 1, 1950, lava erupted from a 20 km long fissure along the middle portion of the rift zone. The lava
reached the sea in less than four hours, crossing Highway 11 in three place, blocking escape routes for the village of South Kona. This eruption was by far the most spectacular eruption of Mauna Loa and lasted for 23 days. On March 25, 1984, lava erupted from the summit, traveling quickly down to the northeast rift zone.
The lava came within 4 miles of Hilo on March 29. It took the lava 3 weeks to cover 16 square kilometers, while the 1983 eruption of Kilauea took 3 years to cover the same amount! The eruption ended on April 15, 1984, almost a month after it started. In 1942, just four months after the Pearl Harbuor attack, Mauna Loa erupted from its flank on April 25 at about 4:40 in the morning. As the flow rapidly advanced towards Hilo, the US Air Force dropped bombs on it, to try to divert its course. Finally, it stopped on the 1st of May, at an altitude of 840 meters about 18 km from Hilo. Mauna Loa has caused a lot of destruction with some of its eruptions, especially in the 1950 eruption. The flow of the 1950 eruption destroyed many houses, a gas station, and the Hookena Post Office at the village of Pahoehoe, where it then crossed the highway. This flow has been called the Honokua flow, but it was not the only flow from this eruption. There was another one, called the Kaapuna flow which was the main flow of the eruption. It began early the next day, traveling across the highway and reaching the ocean only an hour and a half later. The flow plunged into the ocean from a sea cliff at an altitude of 15 to 25 meters high, building out the shoreline 160 meters. This eruption killed many fish, even unknown species from the deep sea. The 1950 eruption lasted 23 days. The volume of the
lava spewed out by the 1950 eruption that remained above sea level was about 387 cubic meters, and the amount that entered the sea is estimated to have been more than 7 million cubic meters. The total volume of this eruption was least 460 million cubic meters. Mauna Loa has a caldera named Mokuaweoweo, which is some 3.7 miles by 1.9 miles, which is much larger than Kilauea’s (1.2 miles by 1.9 miles). The longest eruption of Mauna Loa lasted 18 months between 1872-73, though the eruption was confined to the summit caldera. The biggest earthquake created by Mauna Loa was during the 1868 eruption. It created a magnitude 8 earthquake. The earthquake also caused a tsunami which hit from Hilo to South Cape. The actual lava flow destroyed 37 houses and lasted 4 days. Volcanologists believe that Mauna Loa might have been erupting since 1,000,000 to 700,000 years ago. The volcano has been closely monitored by the Volcano Observatory, and there have been warnings that it could possibly erupt again soon, due to increased volcanic activity. Mauna Loa is still the biggest active volcano in the whole world. It has caused a lot of damage with its eruptions and earthquakes that resulted from the eruptions. Mauna Loa’s most spectacular eruption is the 1950 eruption, which caused more damage than any other eruption.