Hawaii volcano eruption: 30 BILLION gallons of LAVA released by Kilauea over Big Island
HAWAII’S monstrous Kilauea volcano has released a staggering 30 billion gallons of bubbling lava onto the defenceless Big Island since the eruption began last month.
By SEBASTIAN KETTLEY
Express.co.uk
Mon, Jun 11, 2018
The raging Hawaii volcano has so far spewed enough molten rock to fill 60,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools it has been revealed.
The free-flowing lava has consumed hundreds of homes, displaced thousands and redefined the shape of Big Island by creating new land in the Pacific Ocean.
The eruption transformed the otherwise lush, tropical landscape of the Lower East Rift Zone into a nightmarish hellscape of brimstone and fire.
Out in Kapoho Bay the deep blue waters of the Pacific have given way to a barren wasteland of hardened volcano rock.
More than a mile of new ground has formed along the southeast coast where scorching lava is being dumped into the water.
The area is now a danger zone of corrosive toxic fumes, exploding lava and air filled with hazardous volcanic particles which irritate the eyes, skin and lungs.
Roughly four billion cubic feet of the glowing, molten rock have oozed out through volcanic sores in the ground.
Latest United States Geological Survey (USGS) maps show lava flows have covered nine square miles of ground.
About 20 volcanic fissures split Big Island open since the eruption began on May 3, but volcanic Fissure Eight has so far been the biggest culprit.
As of Monday morning UK time, three volcano fountains around the fissure are spitting lava hundreds of feet into the sky.
The USGS warned: “The three closely spaced lava fountains at Fissure 8 are erupting with maximum heights reaching 150-180 feet.
“Lava continues to be fed into the channelized flow trending north and then east to the ocean entry at Kapoho.
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