Page 56 - Curriculum Visions Dynamic Book. To close the book, close the window or tab.

Kilauea: quiet, constant
eruption
Shield volcanoes erupt most of the time without explosive violence. There is therefore never a single catastrophic event for people to witness.
In 1984, for example, the eruption that began at Kilauea, Hawaii, started after a period in which small earthquakes had become more frequent. When the eruption came, a fissure appeared in the large summit crater (called a caldera, see page 58), and fountains
of lava 50 metres high spurted out from all along the crack. Within a few hours the lava had covered the bottom of the caldera, which was about three by five kilometres in size.
The next day a long fissure opened up on the northeast side of the volcano’s flank, then another crack opened. As each new crack appeared, lava spurted up as a curtain of fiery orange liquid.
In this case the opening of the lower fissures made the upper fissures stop erupting as though they were
(Below) The desolate, ash-covered landscape left by the Mount Saint Helens eruption. This view looks southwest across Spirit Lake towards the crater.
56