HONOLULU (AP) — Mauna Loa in Hawaii, the largest active volcano in the worldhas begun to erupt, causing volcanic ash and debris to fall nearby, authorities said Monday.
The eruption began Sunday night in the volcano’s summit caldera on the Big Island, the US Geological Survey said. Early Monday, it said the lava flows were contained within the summit area and not They threatened nearby communities.
“However, the lava flows in the summit region are visible from Kona. There is currently no indication of any migration of the eruption to a rupture zone,” the Hawaii Volcano Observatory said in a statement. A rift zone is where the mountain is splitting, the rock is cracked and relatively weak and it is easier for magma to emerge.
The USGS warned residents at risk from Mauna Loa lava flows to review their eruption preparations. Scientists had been on alert due to a recent increase in earthquakes at the top of the volcano, which last erupted in 1984.
Parts of the Big Island were under an ashfall advisory issued by the National Weather Service in Honolulu, which said up to a quarter-inch of ash could accumulate in some areas.
Mauna Loa is one of five volcanoes that together make up the Big Island of Hawaii, which is the southernmost island in the Hawaiian archipelago.
Mauna Loa, rising 13,679 feet above sea level, is the much larger neighbor to the Kilauea volcano, which erupted in a residential neighborhood and destroyed 700 homes in 2018. Some of its slopes are much steeper than Kilauea’s. , so when it erupts, its lava can flow. Too much faster.
During a 1950 eruption, lava from the mountain traveled 15 miles to the ocean in less than three hours.
