Notes from Janice’s Desk
I’ve to visit several of the Hawaiian islands. Hawaii is the name of the largest of the islands and is commonly called the Big Island. It was on this island that I saw up close an erupting volcano. Kilauea volcano on this island has been erupting since January 1983. As the red hot lava flows into the sea, huge billows of steam rise above the water. This was an awesome site to view from a helicopter. I later discovered that lava called pillow lava is formed when the hot lava flows into the ocean where the water pressure pushes on the lava forming it into pillow-like shapes. At the same time the cold water is cool the liquid rock until it becomes solid again.
The cooled lava on land has different shapes depending on its content and how it is cooled. The fields of cooled lava lava reminded me of gigantic pieces of fudge candy. If I overcook my fudge it is dry and often looks much like the rough, jagged, chunky lava called pahoehoe (pa-hoy-hoy). But when I get everything just right, the fudge is smooth like lava called a’a (ah- ah). Both of these lava types are abundant on the Big Island.
For more information about my trip to the Hawaiian Islands, see JANICE IN HAWAII.
For information about lava, see VOLCANOES.
More Later,
Janice