Volcanic Mountains

    The lover of extremes will not be able to miss the volcanoes of the archipelago. The two of the most active volcanoes on the Earth Mauna Loa and Kilauea are located on the island of Hawaii. Mauna Loa is the highest active volcano in the world. It rises to 4,169 meters above sea level, and if the height calculated from the base on the ocean floor, it will be about 10,000 feet, which exceeds the height of the greatest mountain in the world - Mount Everest. The eruption of Mauna Loa occurs on average once every 4-5 years. The height of Kilauea is only 1,247 meters, but its eruptions are almost annually. The eruption of this volcano in 1959, when the fountain of fiery lava hit the height of 580 meters was the most spectacular for the visitors of the archipelago. Hawaiian volcanoes are formed from the solid, dark colored igneous rocks, called basalt. This is the most common type of lava flowing from the upper mantle. The basaltic lava spreads easily - initially heated to 1000-1200 degrees Celsius, basaltic lava continues to flow even at 700 degrees and can run red-hot streams at speeds up to 40-50 km / h. Some streams are coming from the central vent at the top of volcanoes, but most - from the long cracks in the slopes. The huge temperature leads to the fact that the heat breaks even vegetation not directly affected by a hot stream. There is nothing left on the way of the lava, there are only solidificated dark black lakes with a slightly undulating surface like ripples on the water, suddenly caught up by frost. Reaching the ocean shore beaches, the lava flows descend into the water. In contact with the water lava cools very quickly, almost instantly evaporating the cubic meters of water, and turning itself in glassy rocks as the melt hardens, without crystallizing, that is, it does not have time to form crystals of many minerals contained in the melt. The Hawaiian volcano national park is founded on the volcanic area in 1916. This park occupies the territory of about 93 thousand hectares. The main purpose of the national park is to show visitors "the alive geology” of the birth of Hawaii for tens of millions years, as well as their dramatic landscapes with streams of solidificated lava and the masses of volcanic ash not too far from free-flowing sand of the archipelago beaches.