The Mauna Loa volcano is located in Hawaii and means “Long Mountain” in Hawaiian. It is a giant, basaltic shield volcano. It is one of the largest volcanoes and mountains in the world and has been called the “monarch of mountains”. It has an estimated volume of 9,600 cubic miles and takes up half the land of Hawaii. It extends about 120 km starting from the southern tip of the island to the northern region. It is 97 km (60 miles) long, 48 km (30 miles) wide, and is 8,742 km (28,680 miles) high from the base on the sea floor to the top. The slopes are steeper than 12 degrees and about 4 degrees at the top of the volcano. Mauna Loa formed about half a million years ago and in the middle stages of forming into a shield volcano where lava flows to form a sloped and broad flat domed volcanic cone. Along with Mauna Kea, the Mauna Loa volcano is responsible for the creation of the Hawaiian Islands. Mauna Loa has erupted thirty-three times since 1843 and is known as one of the most active volcanoes in the world today. The last eruption was 1984 and lava flowed within 4 miles of the city of Hilo. This shows that it is dangerous to live anywhere near Mauna Loa and that it poses as a threat to anyone living near it because it has a very high possibility of erupting within a very short span of time. Below is a picture of Mauna Loa taken from a bird’s eye view. Volcanoes can cause damage by spewing lava, but earthquakes before the eruption can also cause damage. These earthquakes open fissures and let magma out to the surface. When the magma exits these fissures, streams of lava up to hundreds of feet can shoot into the air. The picture below shows the lava erupting from the fissures created by the earthquakes in the northeast rift zone on the morning of March 25th, 1984. These eruptions can be of the violent sort and some can be relatively calm. They can last from a couple days or as long as ten months and may be f...
