Hawaii volcano WARNING: Scientists have NO IDEA when ERUPTION will end
KILAUEA volcano continues to wreak havoc on Hawaii’s Big Island and there is no way of knowing when the eruption will end or if more lava-spewing vents will open.
By THOMAS MACKIE
Express.co.uk
Sat, Jun 9, 2018
US Geological Survey officials said the lava flow, which has filled Kapoho Bay, is still active and has created nearly a mile of new land.
USGS geologist Janet Babb said: “Lava continues to enter the ocean along a broad front in Kapoho Bay and the Vacationland area and it continues to creep north of what remains of Kapoho Beach Lots.”
As the molten rock moved towards Kapoho Bay, it vaporised Hawaii’s largest freshwater lake, which was hundreds of feet deep in some places.
The new land in Kapoho Bay is now owned by the state but will not look like the farmland that dominates the region anytime soon.
Depending on the climate, rainfall and other factors, new vegetation could start growing soon, but it will take much longer for the fertile land and lush rainforests to build back up.
Ms Babb said: “How soon vegetation comes back on a lava flow really depends on the type of lava it is, and how much rainfall there is in the area.
“There are flows on the Kona side of the island that are much older than some flows on east Hawaii, they are much older but they have far less vegetation and that’s just a reflection of the difference in rainfall.”
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park spokeswoman Jessica Ferracane said: “Rainfall really makes a difference.
“A lot of ferns will pop up first.
“So, it’s usually ohia and ferns that are the first pioneers of those new lava flows.”
But the land is still highly unpredictable, and after the lava cools and hardens it will leave behind a jagged, scorched landscape.
Any new land masses that are formed as a result of the molten rock within the national park become federal land and any ocean entries outside the park become state land.
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