Kilauea Volcano

About Kilauea Volcano:

• It is the youngest and most active Hawaiian shield volcano, located on the southern part of the Island of Hawai'i, known as Big Island.
• It is near-constantly erupting from vents either on its summit (caldera) or on the rift zones.
• Kilauea has a large summit caldera with a central crater, Halemaumau, which is according to Hawaiian legends the home of the fire goddess Pele.
• Until 1924, it contained a lava lake.

What is a Shield Volcano?

• Shield volcanoes are a type of volcano that tend to erupt basalt lava, a type of lava that is very fluid when erupted. 
• Although shield volcanoes are the largest volcanoes on Earth, they do not form soaring mountains with conical peaks like composite volcanoes. Instead, 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.
• The Hawaiian shield volcanoes are the most famous examples.

 

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Q1) What is a Shield Volcano?     

Shield volcanoes are a type of volcano that tend to erupt basalt lava, a type of lava that is very fluid when erupted. Although shield volcanoes are the largest volcanoes on Earth, they do not form soaring mountains with conical peaks like composite volcanoes. Instead, they are broad volcanoes with gentle slopes.

Source: Kilauea volcano erupts on Hawaii’s Big Island