Mauna Loa is one of 5 volcanoes that form the Island of Hawaii and is considered the largest volcano in the world.
Let’s find out more about it!
- Mauna Loa is one of five volcanoes that form the Island of Hawaii in the U.S. state of Hawaiʻi in the Pacific Ocean.
- It’s the largest subaerial volcano in both mass and volume.
- Mauna Loa has historically been considered the largest volcano on Earth, dwarfed only by Tamu Massif.
- It is an active shield volcano with relatively gentle slopes.
- Its volume is estimated at 18,000 cubic miles (75,000 km3).
- Its peak is about 125 feet (38 m) lower than that of its neighbor, Mauna Kea.
- Lava eruptions from Mauna Loa are silica-poor and very fluid, and they tend to be non-explosive.
- Mauna Loa has probably been erupting for at least 700,000 years, and may have emerged above sea level about 400,000 years ago.
- The oldest-known dated rocks are not older than 200,000 years.
- The volcano’s magma comes from the Hawaii hotspot, which has been responsible for the creation of the Hawaiian island chain over tens of millions of years.
- The slow drift of the Pacific Plate will eventually carry Mauna Loa away from the hotspot within 500,000 to one million years from now, at which point it will become extinct.
- Mauna Loa’s most recent eruption occurred from March 24 to April 15, 1984.
- No recent eruptions of the volcano have caused fatalities, but eruptions in 1926 and 1950 destroyed villages, and the city of Hilo is partly built on lava flows from the late 19th century.
- Because of the potential hazards it poses to population centers, Mauna Loa is part of the Decade Volcanoes program, which encourages studies of the world’s most dangerous volcanoes.
- Mauna Loa has been monitored intensively by the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory since 1912.
- Observations of the atmosphere are undertaken at the Mauna Loa Observatory, and of the Sun at the Mauna Loa Solar Observatory, both located near the mountain’s summit.
- Hawaii Volcanoes National Park covers the summit and the southeastern flank of the volcano.
- It also incorporates Kīlauea, a separate volcano.
- Most part of the Mauna Loa is situated within the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
- The oldest rocks on this volcano have been dated back around 100,000 to 200,000 years.
- It is located in a populated area, so a mapping system is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey to identify hazard zones.
- It has erupted between 15,500 to 19,200 cubic miles of lava that has now turned into solid rock.
- The summit of the volcano is occupied by a large caldera named as Mokuaweoweo.
- Mauna Loa is estimated to pump out approximately 12 million cubic meters in one single day.
- The volcano has two unique cycles of eruption. It erupts from the summit for 1,500 to 2,000 years then it switches to fissure eruptions on its flank.
- This is a shield volcano and that is why it is wide with gently sloping sides. Their eruptions are not violent.
- According to a Hawaiian legend, this volcano was formed by the volcano goddess Pele.
- In June 1950 a 23-day flow from a 13-mile (21-km) fissure in the southwest rift destroyed a small village.
- Substantial eruptions at the summit occurred in 1975 and 1984.
- It measures 13,697 feet above sea level and around 3,100 feet below sea level
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