Geological Summary The Hualalai volcano, at the western end of the island, is the third youngest shield volcano in Hawaii. Three rift zones, dotted with ash cones and splash cones, tend to the north, northwest and SE, and converge about 5 km E from the summit.
Fun for the whole family, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is a great place to explore and learn more about Kilauea and all of the volcanoes on the island of Hawaii. The Haleakala VOLCANO, or “the house of the sun”, is located in eastern Maui, near the Hawaiian volcano Haleakala. Like all Hawaiian volcanoes, Klauea was born when the Pacific tectonic plate moved over the Hawaiian hot spot in the Earth's underlying mantle, as it did throughout the Pacific Ocean. The massive volcanic crater of Haleakala volcano, measuring just under 20 miles (30 km) in diameter, is among the largest on Earth.
Lava flows represent by far the greatest danger in a possible future Hualalai eruption, because although explosive pyroclastic eruptions have occurred during the Holocene epoch (the last 10,000 years), they are relatively rare and cover only limited parts of the volcano. Due to this and the fact that more than 200 years have passed since its last eruption, Hualalai volcano is considered a potentially dangerous volcano on the island of Hawaii that is delayed for an eruption. During this period, no microearthquake swarms or harmonic tremors (both indicative of magma migration) have been recorded, although Hualalai experiences several magnitude 4 earthquakes each year. Alkaline eruptions in Hualalai have generally been much less explosive than those at neighboring Kohala and Mauna Kea volcanoes.
The Hawaiian island of Huallai receives two or three respirators every 1000 years, since its volcanic system works in a circle around its caldera. No magma-related seismicity or soil deformation has been detected recently in Hualalai, making it difficult to say if and when the next eruption could occur. During shield construction (basically the creation and discharge of earth-moving basalt) in Hawaii and other continents, this type is extremely rare. To be considered active, a volcano will have erupted at least once in the past 10,000 years, and there is still enough seismic activity below the surface to suggest that another eruption may occur in the next 1000 years or less.
While Kilauea may be Hawaii's most famous volcano, Mauna Loa and Hualalai are also active volcanoes. However, in 1929 an intense earthquake swarm hit Hualalai for a period of one month, which has been interpreted as due to an intrusion of magma near the surface, without a superficial eruption. A network of Hawaiian-Emperor seamounts that extends 6,000 km (3,700 miles) and is more than 70 million years old, recently confirmed by volcanoes on the Hawaiian Islands, seems to originate during this period.
