Is the volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii swelling now? I went there maybe two years ago and the people there told us that it does that before it errupts. I am from Hawaii and have livedthere half my life. I find this stuff interesting. Can you tellme more about that volcano. How is it at the moment :-).

rocky Matthew Kennedy

Hi Matthew,

There are actually 5 volcanoes on the island of Hawaii. Two of them, Kilauea and Mauna Loa are pretty active. Kilauea has been erupting pretty much constantly since January 1983, and Mauna Loa last erupted in March-April of 1984. You are right, the volcanoes do tent do swell before they erupt. That is because the magma storage system under the summit (usually called a magma chamber) gets filled up by supply from below. At the moment the Mauna Loa magma chamber is swelling slowly, leading up to its next eruption (when that will be we don't know). Kilauea, on the other hand is in a state of constant eruption at the moment, and magma into the volcano from the mantle is balanced by magma out at the vent. Therefore at the moment Kilauea is neither swelling nor contracting to any great degree.

The other 3 volcanoes on the big island are:
Hualalai, which last erupted in 1801. Mauna Kea, which last erupted about 3000 years ago. Kohala, which last erupted about 60,000 years ago.

Off the SE coast of the big island is Loihi seamount, the youngest Hawaiian volcano. Its summit is about 1000 meters below sea level and it might make it to the surface in the next 10,000 to 20,000 years.

Scott Rowland, University of Hawaii 

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