kilauea volcano for 23 August 2025

Kilauea Volcano Latest News

Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano erupted again, sending lava fountains up to 30 metres high, marking its 31st eruption since December.

About Kilauea Volcano

• It is one of the world’s most active volcanoes. 
• It is a shield-type volcano located in the southeastern part of the island of Hawaii, Hawaii state, United States.
• The volcano is 4,090 feet (1,250 meters) high.
• It is a long dome built of lava eruptions. 
• The summit caldera contains a lava lake known as Halema`uma`u that is said to be the home of the Hawaiian volcano goddess, Pele.
• Kilauea’s slopes merge with those of the nearby volcano Mauna Loa on the west and north.
• Kilauea has been erupting on a continuous basis since 1983.
• Kilauea’s frequent eruptions are usually nonexplosive and are contained within Halema‘uma‘u, which sometimes rises and overflows along the floor and flanks of the caldera proper.

Key Facts about Shield Volcano

• They are the largest volcanoes on Earth that actually look like volcanoes (i.e., not counting flood basalt flows). 
• The Hawaiian shield volcanoes are the most famous examples. 
• Shield volcanoes are almost exclusively basalt, a type of lava that is very fluid when erupted. For this reason, these volcanoes are not steep. They are broad volcanoes with gentle slopes.
• Eruptions at shield volcanoes are only explosive if water somehow gets into the vent; otherwise they are characterized by low-explosivity fountaining that forms cinder cones and spatter cones at the vent; however, 90% of the volcano is lava rather than pyroclastic material.
• They are built by repeated eruptions that occurred intermittently over vast periods of time (up to a million years or longer).

Source: TT