Kīlauea Caldera

The Kīlauea Caldera, officially gazetted as Kīlauea Crater, is a caldera located at the summit of Kīlauea, an active shield volcano in the Hawaiian Islands. It has an extreme length of 2.93 mi (4.72 km), an extreme width of 1.95 mi (3.14 km), a circumference of 7.85 mi (12.63 km) and an area of 4.14 sq mi (10.7 km2).[1] It contains Halemaʻumaʻu, an active pit crater near the caldera's southwestern edge.[1][2]

Kīlauea Caldera
Satellite image of the Kīlauea Caldera with a steam plume rising from Halemaʻumaʻu
Highest point
Elevation3,589 ft (1,094 m) [1]
Coordinates19°24′43″N 155°16′33″W 
Geology
Last eruption1982

The walls of the caldera consist of fault scarps that have formed as a result of down-sinking of the caldera floor. Much of the caldera floor is covered by lava flows erupted since the 19th century.[2] The Kīlauea Caldera and neighboring Kīlauea Iki are circled by Crater Rim Drive, an 11 mi (18 km) long paved road that provides access to Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park.[3][4] The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory was established on the rim of the Kīlauea Caldera in 1912.[5]

Eruptions from the Kīlauea Caldera have taken place in 1982, 1975, 1974, 1971, 1921, 1919, 1918 and possibly in 1820 and 1790.[6]

References
  1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Kīlauea Crater
  2. Macdonald, Gordon A.; Hubbard, Douglas H. (1961). Volcanoes of the National Parks in Hawaii (2 ed.). Hawaii Natural History Association. p. 23.
  3. Bohman, Mary Beth; Theunissen, Amanda (2006). Fodor's 067 Hawai'i. Fodor's. p. 371. ISBN 9781400015436.
  4. Leas, Cheryl Farr (2005). Hawaii for Dummies. Wiley Publishing. p. 388. ISBN 9780764574023.
  5. Harpp, Karen S.; Mittelstaedt, Eric; d'Ozouville, Noémi; Graham, David W. (2014). The Galapagos: A Natural Laboratory for the Earth Sciences. John Wiley & Sons. p. 6. ISBN 978-1-118-85268-2.
  6. "Kilauea". Global Volcanism Program. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 2020-02-05.
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