VOLCANO AND EARTHQUAKES

• Recently, a surge of earthquakes and the ground swelling at the southern part of the crater was noticed at Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano
• A volcano is an opening on the surface that allows material warmer than its surroundings to escape from its interior.

Important points:

• Kilauea, also called Mount Kilauea (“Much Spreading” in Hawaiian), is located in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on the southeastern part of the island of Hawaii, US.
• Kilauea’s slopes merge with those of the nearby volcano Mauna Loa on the west and north.
• It is an elongated dome built of lava eruptions from a central crater and from lines of craters extending along east and southwest rifts, or fissures. The volcano’s 4,090-foot summit has collapsed to form a caldera.
• A caldera is a depression created after a volcano partially collapses after releasing the majority of its magma chamber in an explosive eruption.
• The caldera was the site of nearly continuous activity during the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century.
• It is one of the world’s most active volcanoes, having erupted 34 times since 1952.
• From 1983 to 2018, it erupted almost continuously. In December 2020, It erupted at the crater, creating a lake with enough lava to fill 10 Hoover dams. That eruption ended in May 2021.

SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIC TIMES,MINT