My First Volcano At noon on December 24 1986 Steve and I strapped ourselves into a helicopter without doors and bounced on air drafts over a sizzling Hawaiian lava lake Lava oozed out of the vent filling a huge depression to overflowing and creating a lava lake The lava gushing into the lake from the vent caused sloshing waves As our pilot tilted the chopper to give us a better view I clutched at the seat cushion for fear I would slide across the smooth leather and right out the open door Below us a red lake the size of two football fields bubbled like a pot of oatmeal Only this wasn’t oatmeal It was burning hot molten lava The lake had formed when a new vent called Kupaianaha had burst open on the east side of Kilauea volcano A vent is an opening through which a volcano erupts lava and ash from inside the Earth Hovering over Kupaianaha lava lake was the scariest thing I’d ever done until we landed near it Explosive Facts Name of volcano Kilauea Location Hawaii U S A Status active Type shield volcano Height 1222 m 4009 ft Known people killed about 120 10
Closer to the lava lake things got even scarier The lava bubbled up cooling into flying spatter and cinders 11
At one end of Kupaianaha lava lake we could see the tube into which lava gushed as it drained from the lake Helicopters take volcano hunters where the action is This one approaches a smoking crater It’s similar to the one we took to see the lava lake only our chopper didn’t have doors The chopper whirled down to the edge of the sizzling lake Hot glowing rock oozed from the earth like toothpaste out of a cracked tube The helicopter cabin got hotter and a burnt metal smell filled the air Our pilot expertly dodged chunks of spatter the volcano flung at us We landed on the ground with a soft thump Steve and the pilot jumped out and ducked the rotors leaving the engine running for a fast getaway I thought about the gasoline in the engine near this heat I watched as Steve walked right up to the creeping lava flow and survived The scientist in me said Hey isn’t this what you went back to school for The artist in me had to admit the lake was strangely beautiful Glowing pinkish orange lava was creeping along hissing and popping as if it were alive This was the opportunity I had been waiting for my whole life I grabbed my camera and jumped out of the chopper I felt heat through the soles of my sneakers I changed lenses and started shooting 12
Steve stands on a hardened crust of pahoehoe lava Under this crust the molten lava can stay hot for months Breaking through is a real danger Just standing still can melt your shoes I took my first photograph of Steve and lava Steve back up toward the lava and smile Hurry up Why My sneakers are melting Ouch So were mine Time to go We ran to the helicopter and lifted off As I stared back at the lava lake I knew I’d be back How Volcanoes Form The Earth’s crust is made up of huge solid chunks called tectonic plates that float atop Earth’s fluid mantle Volcanoes form when magma from Earth’s mantle breaks through the plates or oozes out at the edges This can happen in different ways Subduction When two plates smash against each other one plate is forced under the other The underlying plate melts into magma and can erupt through the overlying plate as a volcano Central America’s volcanoes including Arenal in Costa Rica and Pacaya in Guatemala were formed this way Mid-Oceanic Rift When two plates drift apart magma fills the gap between them and under the ocean volcanoes can form Iceland’s Surtsey is a good example of a volcano that grew slowly until it emerged from the ocean Hot Spot Sometimes there is a weak spot in one of Earth’s plates and a stationary plume of magma erupts through it The Hawaiian volcanoes were all formed this way Kauai Oahu Molokai Maui Big Island of Hawaii 13
