Invisible Killer in Hawaii's Big Island

As Kilauea ramps up to a really bad crater destroying blast, I want to inform everyone that micro xtalized quartz is invisible, and will cut the alveoli blood vessels in your lungs to shreds. On May 18th, 1980, the Mt. St. Helens ash cloud reached Idaho about 2:00 P.M. in the afternoon. But this silent killer came over about 45 minutes earlier. So it gained those 45 minutes from drifting nearly 400 miles. Anywhere on the Big Island, this will only be several seconds. In my own backyard, here, after the invisible ash particles did their dirty work on our lungs, Silver Dollar sized gray "snowflakes", started falling in the 70 degree F. darkness.

Now, good quality Japanese motorbikes are the best way to get around, in an ash fall. You need a good respirator, but those bikes are made to operate amongst Japan's numerous, dormant volcanoes. My neighbor, and his wife, rode through a real life Dante's Peak disaster, where they had to beg someone in a camper to let them stay out of the thickest of the ash. Their Suzuki 1000 bike was covered with ash two days later, but it washed right off. The air cleaner's paper filters took out everything and this saved their motor. I then rode my Yamaha 500 TT for a week, but I did plug up the carb. The local dealer fixed it, and we figured out that between day and night, the little vent hose coming out of my gas cap, had let enough ash siphon back in, that it plugged up my jets. So we cut the vent tube in half, and put an inline fuel filter into it. No more troubles! But I wasn't being smart, by trying to save an expensive overhaul on our 71 mustang's engine. That Ford is long gone, but my lungs are still working.

The Yamaha TT, got traded off on a Sportster, which is still in my garage, waiting for parts. Long story short, your lungs are way more important than any bikes, or muscle cars.

a reply to: carpooler

Mt St Helens and Kilauea are two different types of volcano.

Kilauea isn't going to detonate the way Mt St Helens did.

Very good post, Doe's something like that not need a lot of propulsion as well to get to long distances? Is that type of eruption expected?

a reply to: SR1TX

I think Phage will know best on this one and not because he's a science guru (although that helps) but because he lives in the area. I'm sure he will chip in soon.

a reply to: carpooler

Now, good quality Japanese motorbikes are the best way to get around, in an ash fall. You need a good respirator, but those bikes are made to operate amongst Japan's numerous, dormant volcanoes. My neighbor, and his wife, rode through a real life Dante's Peak disaster, where they had to beg someone in a camper to let them stay out of the thickest of the ash. Their Suzuki 1000 bike was covered with ash two days later, but it washed right off. The air cleaner's paper filters took out everything and this saved their motor. I then rode my Yamaha 500 TT for a week, but I did plug up the carb. The local dealer fixed it, and we figured out that between day and night, the little vent hose coming out of my gas cap, had let enough ash siphon back in, that it plugged up my jets. So we cut the vent tube in half, and put an inline fuel filter into it. No more troubles! But I wasn't being smart, by trying to save an expensive overhaul on our 71 mustang's engine. That Ford is long gone, but my lungs are still working. 

I love this part.

So far this has not been a very ashy eruption. The big worry is the sulfuric gas which is a different problem.

In order for the problem you are talking about to exist, the volcano has to explode a large amount of fine particulate matter into the atmosphere high enough up that the prevailing winds can carry it. That simply has not happened yet in this eruption, and this volcano may not have the right kind of magma for it. There are different kinds of magma at different volcanoes.

May those in harm's way find safety. I've been following the news on this one and up till recently they seemed reserved on the potential of calamity. However, in the last two days or so its been doom and gloom type reporting. If I were on that island I definitely would not be throwing cation too the wind.

Thanx for the kudos. But if running a stupid jackhammer can give you White Lung, aka Silicosis disease, Kilauea can do a lot bigger and better job of it. I live in the Columbia Basalt Flood country. Basalt and Granite are the same puppy, it's the quick or slow cooling, xtalization, which makes all the difference. Basalt from Kilauea has just as much silica as Mt. St. Helens, Silicon Acidic basalts, or the Granite in a road cut, up in the Rockies.

I understand the "Shield Volcano concept", but I think we're about to see it flounder on the Big Island. When Krakatoa blew to pieces in 1883, it was sea water, hitting molten magma, deep inside her throat, which sent the blast wave around the Earth, seven times. Kilauea is really close to the coastline, and one big crack in the wrong place, can and will, lead to Phreatic catastrophes. It may take a number of "stoping" explosions, but Mauna Loa adjoins the smaller Kilauea, and Mauna Loa is about the largest surviving edifice in the world. Crater Lake, Long Valley, Yellowstone, and Santorini Island have all had their prior performances. Fairly recent Phreatic eruptions along the shore of Lake Yellowstone, went up like Hiroshima A bombs, and the Park's marinas are located in these present day bays.

For those thinking it can't cause a huge eruption.

The big worry with this volcano is that water will start to fill the main chamber once the lava gets below sea level.
If that happens there will be several large explosions for an unknown period of time until the volcano collapses in on itself.
(it has happened to other volcanoes in the area)
If this happens it will begin spewing lots of gas,ash and steam.
It will throw 10 ton boulders for miles.

It will be a huge volcanic eruption.

Anything can happen with that.

a reply to: Darkblade71

The big worry with this volcano is that water will start to fill the main chamber once the lava gets below sea level.

No. It has nothing to do with sea level. See below.

If that happens there will be several large explosions for an unknown period of time until the volcano collapses in on itself.

No. See below.

(it has happened to other volcanoes in the area)

No, it hasn't. See below.

It will throw 10 ton boulders for miles.

No, it wont'. See below.

It will be a huge volcanic eruption.

No, it won't. See Below


This is the process:
1) Dropping magma levels cause loss of support of the walls of the crater which lie below the water table.
2) The walls of the active crater collapse into the magma channel, sealing it.
3) The steam which is being produced by water in contact with magma has no place to escape.
4) Pressure builds until...
5) Kaboom. Steam cannon. Back up the magma channel.

The water table is well above sea level.

The volcano will not collapse but parts of the active crater wall may fall into the crater, sealing it.

There is no evidence of a volcano in the area having "collapsed in on itself." There was a series of period of steam explosions in the Kilauea caldera about 2,000 years ago. After thousands of years of lava activity.

These explosions will not continue indefinitely because at some point the throat of the crater will be too wide to be sealed by the rockfalls (or it will stabilize). No more explosions.

It will not be a huge volcanic eruption. It will be a steam explosion. It will be a blast of steam, ash, cinders, and a few boulders. The steam, no big deal. The ash, more a nuisance than anything, it could blow a pretty good distance depending on the wind. The cinders not a problem either and will be confined to an area quite near the crater, within a few miles at most. The boulders could be pretty large (not sure about 10 tons) but since they are being fired more or less straight up from the crater, they will fall back down in the immediate area of the crater, not miles away.

Anything can happen with that.

Not really likely. The volcano behaved in a very similar manner in 1924.

The people that live in the area(s) where lava is erupting (about 20 miles from the crater) are the ones in danger. Rather, their property is.


volcanoes.usgs.gov...

a reply to: watchitburn

Now you're messin' up some serious paranoia...

I was about 150 miles from St. Helens when it blew the # up. ...and watched a good portion of the mountain float over head.

I was on the Big Island during one of her smaller eruptions back in the late 80's.

The two volcano's couldn't be more different.

a reply to: seagull

oh funny, I was literally right across the road at the KOA campground when it went off.

a reply to: BotheLumberJack

That was an interesting day. I was just under the southern most part of the ash cloud...thirty miles or so north of me, there were feet of ash. You can still see piles of ash sitting along side I90 if you know where to look--even almost 40 years later.

...and it's the anniversary of that interesting day. Almost completely forgot.

a reply to: seagull

I remember waking up to the ash, and people staring up at the Mountain in bewonderment. I actually took some of the ash home with me, it was everywhere all over the ground and cars. It was indeed an interesting day!

a reply to: Phage

Well, I guess you told me, huh!


Perhaps I read false information or misunderstood what I was reading.
Wish I could remember the links to post.

Water table and sea level I can see mixing up,
however, and I will go try to find it for you,
I did read that in the past, there was another volcano that blew itself up and collapsed in on itself in Hawaii,
sealing itself forever, but also it had a huge catastrophic effect on the islands.
I will have to go find it now...

*wanders off*

Wait.... It was the one in 1924 that I am referring to.
Perhaps it was sensationalized.

Ok, never mind, carry on.

As I posted in my O.P., I have troubles with the Shield Volcano concept. Using past events to project what will happen is fraught with consequences. Some of the ST. Helen's crew mentioned a Siberian volcano's lateral blast. But St Helens had never had one. But then it did, on May 18th, 1980. Worse, that lateral blast blew away the USGS monitoring camp, along with Dr. Johnston. In fact it went out, right over Dave's head. Today, from Johnston Ridge Observatory, they point out where his parking lot had once been.

These Hawaiian Monsters build up with pillow basalts, from the bed of the Pacific Ocean. If a quake from 50 miles deep, cracks through this edifice to the molten magma, then all bets are off. It was a quake, of 5.8 R. which dropped the side of Mt. St. Helens onto Dave's head. So it was first tectonic, and only secondarily, magmatic.

FWIW, Krakatau had a dandy three stack, well surveyed edifice, in 1883, probably built up, out of the Sunda Straits, after a monster eruption in 530 AD. A quake was probably what let in a cubic mile of seawater, and then that mountain was once again, open water. Today a very active Anak Krakatau is once more jutting out of the waters in that Strait.

Mauna Loa, and Kilauea grew together and share a crater rim, at one place. What their throats share, miles deep, is anyone's guess. But cold seawater and magma, don't mix! The Phreatic blowouts at Lake Yellowstone were probably from the Lake's water getting into a magmatic vent. These went boom at the levels of the Hiroshima A - Bomb. Today, they are handy dandy marinas, with multiple boat docks.

In my humble opinion, those golfers next to this "Shield" volcanic eruption, are already Darwin Award candidates.

originally posted by: Darkblade71
a reply to: Phage

Well, I guess you told me, huh!

Perhaps I read false information or misunderstood what I was reading.
Wish I could remember the links to post.

Water table and sea level I can see mixing up,
however, and I will go try to find it for you,
I did read that in the past, there was another volcano that blew itself up and collapsed in on itself in Hawaii,
sealing itself forever, but also it had a huge catastrophic effect on the islands.
I will have to go find it now...

*wanders off*

Wait.... It was the one in 1924 that I am referring to.
Perhaps it was sensationalized.

Ok, never mind, carry on.

It was Molokai ...and it was millions of years ago when a large part of it slid off into the sea leaving tall cliffs.

a reply to: MissSmartypants

Oahu did it too. But it was not the result of volcanic eruptions. The mountains were too high and the undersea portions were too steep.

If you look at the bathymetry on Google Earth you can see the landslide debris to the north of both islands.

Phage, I don't know if it's still there, but in 1969 I used to have to walk past a fountain memorializing the first Oahu Island's artesian well. The old volcanic slopes have underground rivers flowing downwards. The water came out under a lot of pressure, and it's perfectly soft water, from Zeolites in the basalts. Mauna Loa will also have enormous flooded lava tubes, and Kilauea cuts through some of these. Back in the day, these Phreatic events were called "Stoping".

If Kilauea's throat stays intact, this eruption may just fade away. But the "Rift Zone" really scares me. The magma is already stoping outwards, and when one opens up a flooded Mauna Loa lava tube, it's when TSHTF. You've been segregating ground water, vs. seawater, but those flooded tubes are actually underground rivers.

a reply to: ketsuko

There were two Plinys involved in the AD 79 eruption of Vesuvius, in the bay of Naples, Italy One survived, and one didn't.

Pliny the elder was a Roman admiral, who perished on the beach near the volcano. Poison gas killed him, not hot lava products. Pliny the younger was the Admiral's nephew, who was in a villa near Naples, across the bay, and his account was discounted, until quite recently. Now we call these Kabooms, "Plinian Eruptions". His description of the cloud as a Pine Tree, is the same as our "Mushroom Cloud". Those big Italian Pines flatten out in their tree tops, and spread out like a deciduous shade tree's branches. He actually also accurately described the pyroclastic vertical column which first rose up, and then came back down.

Pliny the younger said something else which hasn't been properly explained in anything which I've read. The lightest of the ash cloud, skipped right on across the Bay, and nailed Pliny in his villa. All the heavier ash particles, sank into the water. I've noticed the same thing from spitting on a hot griddle, over a campfire. I can't remember the scientific name, but a boundary layer of steam forms and the still liquid skips on over the hot metal surface.