this happened in about 1500.
The second well known story tells of Kamapuaʻa trying to drown Pele during a lover's tiff. Pele almost succumbed but eventually mustered all her strength, threw rocks at Kamapuaʻa, and chased him to the ocean. This is a colorful metaphor for a steam-driven explosive eruption.
The only eruption before 1790 strong enough to throw fine gravel into the ocean took place in about 1650. We determined this date by studying and dating several deposits left by explosive eruptions. One explosive eruption, whose carbon-14 charcoal age was 1650, dropped such rocks about where the Chain of Craters Road meets the sea.
These events may seem minor, inconsequential curiosities in comparison to occurrences in today's society. But imagine yourself caught in an explosive eruption at Kīlauea's summit. Major or minor doesn't matter when ash or blocks are falling around you, the air is hot and choking, and hot ash-air-steam mixtures are surging across the ground surface at hurricane velocities.
That is just what happened in November 1790, when several hundred people were killed, likely between Nāmakanipaio and Jaggar Museum, during the deadliest eruption known to have occurred at a volcano now in the United States. The unfortunate victims were apparently caught by a hot, ash-rich surge that both suffocated and burned them to death.
Today, most island residents and visitors are blithe to what happened in 1790, much less the preceding 300 years of violent but generally smaller explosive eruptions. Reading the geologic past, however, we think it almost certain that Kīlauea will eventually return to a long period of mostly explosive activity, just as it did in about 1500. The explosive period will probably be initiated by collapse of the caldera floor down to the water table, which today is about 615 m (2015 ft) below the high point on the caldera rim. For comparison, the caldera today is about 120 m (400 ft) deep. During the next explosive period, which could last several centuries, the summit of Kīlauea will often be a place to avoid. We can count our blessings now, but eventually our descendants will have to deal with a Kīlauea that is very different from the one we know today.
Kīlauea Activity UpdateThe summit lava lake within Halemaʻumaʻu Crater produced nighttime glow that was visible via HVO's webcam over the past week. The lava lake level was relatively steady at 3035 m (~100115 ft) below the rim of the Overlook crater.
On the East Rift Zone of Kīlauea Volcano, the June 27 flow from Puʻu ʻŌʻō continued to advance toward the northeast and reached 7.0 km (4.3 miles) from the vent by mid-week. Within Puʻu ʻŌʻō crater, at least one small lava pond was active on the crater floor.
One earthquake was reported felt during the past week on the Island of Hawaiʻi. On Tuesday, August 5, 2014, at 12:08 a.m., HST, a magnitude-3.2 earthquake occurred 31 km (19 mi) northwest of Kailua-Kona at a depth of 26 km (16 mi).
Visit our Web site (hvo.wr.usgs.gov) for detailed Kīlauea and Mauna Loa activity updates, recent volcano photos, recent earthquakes, and more; call (808) 967-8862 for a Kīlauea activity summary; email questions to askHVO@usgs.gov.