Big Island's Kilauea Puts Up Another Dazzling Show!
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If you have ever been to Hawaii's Big Island, you may have noticed that it's beaches are covered with black volcanic sand - that's because the Island is home to some of the world's most active volcanoes.
One of the youngest and most active, is the Kilauea Volcano, and it has started 2010 with a bang - Just in time for Big Island's 'Volcano Awareness Month'.
This year's first eruption occurred on January 7th, inside the pit of the Halemaumaa crater on Kilauea's summit, and sent out a spectacular spew of lava, one that resembled a dome fountain! On January 14th, the volcano erupted again sputtering out more lava than it has done, in over a year!
Ironically, for many years Kilauea, now thought to be the world's most active volcano, was not even classified as one. Instead, it was considered to be the branch of a bigger volcano. However, recent research has revealed that it is indeed a full-fledged volcano - one with its own magma-plumbing system that extends more than 60km below the earth's surface.
And like all of Hawaii's volcanoes, this one too has an interesting legend. According to ancient Hawaiian folklore , Kilauea is the home of Pele, the Hawaiian volcano goddess. Believed to be born in Tahiti, she was one of six girls and seven boys born to the earth goddess.
According to the legend, Pele was exiled by her father, the creator of the Universe, and came to Hawaii by boat. Once here, she created havoc in all the islands, digging fire pits and creating volcanoes. Her sister finally caught up with her and killed her in an epic battle near Hana, on the Hawaiian Island of Maui.
After her death, Pele dug her final and eternal pit on the Big Island of Hawaii, at the summit of the Kilauea Volcano. The locals who worship her as a goddess, believe that she still resides here and often come with offerings to appease her.
Pele, in turn shows her appreciation by putting on some spectacular lava shows, making it a win-win situation for both! The video below shows the spectacular eruptions that occurred in November, 2009.
sources:wikipedia.org, bigislandvideonews.com,USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory
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85 Comments
- brock lesnerover 5 yearsso cool but so deadly this artical is the coolest
- amarkparkalmost 7 yearscooooooooooooooool
- grace12345almost 9 yearsOmg i love it so much 😍
- amarkparkalmost 7 yearshow can you love that it was dangarus and cooooooooool
- Grialmost 9 yearsCool
- lucdogover 9 yearsCool
- animegirlyalmost 10 yearsOmg cool thing
- nikukyualmost 10 yearsOmg it IS dazzling and cool and beautiful!
- annabeth123almost 10 yearsI think that's pretty cool.
- Cinderellaalmost 10 yearsDo you have any of the latest volcano eruption articles cause this is from a longtime ago and every year theres supposed to be another valcano erupton. Anyway I was just asking if you have any maybee 2014 articles.
- annabeth123almost 10 yearsYes, they do.
- jazzyalmost 10 yearsI think this is so cool .I love lava