Hawaii --
Aerial view of lava delta (center, left of volcanic
fume) growing seaward at Kamoamoa on Kilauea
Volcano, Hawai`i. The new land is about 450 meters
long and 180 meters wide (from sea to old shoreline).
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Hawaii is the only state in the USA built entirely of volcanic
materials. Each of its islands is made up on one or more massive shield volcanoes rising from the ocean floor or from the flanks of its neighbors. The Hawaiian Islands are the southernmost end of a largely submerged chain of similar shield volcanoes that extends 3,400 kilometers to the northwest and then, bending toward the north, another 2,300 kilometers as the Emperor Seamounts, reaching to Kamchatka. About 100 separate volcanoes make the Hawaiian-Emperor chain the most massive point-source volcanic outpouring on Earth.
-- Excerpt from:
Wood and Kienle, 1990, Volcanoes of North America
On January 3, 2003, Kilauea Volcano began
its 21st year of nearly continuous eruption.
Since the eruption began in 1983, lava
flows have covered 111 square kilometers
of the volcano,
added nearly 220 hectares (540 acres) to the island,
created local volcanic air pollution known as "vog," and
drawn millions of people to experience and enjoy
volcanic activity up close. This is the longest eruption
on Kilauea's east rift zone in at least the past 600
years, and the volcano is not showing any sign that the
eruption may end soon.
-- Information courtesy Hawaii Volcanoes Observatory Website, 2003
Surtsey, Iceland,
is a 2.5 square kilometer volcanic island
which lies approximately 40 kilometers off the coast of Iceland,
and
was constructed during the 1963-1967 time period
by basaltic eruptions.
Surtsey is a classic example of the growth of a new volcanic island.
Episodic eruptions began on November 8, 1963 and
ended on June 5, 1967. The volcano grew from the sea floor,
at a depth of 130 meters, to sea level by November 15. During the first
few days, eruptions were not explosive and probably consisted of
gentle effusion of pillow lava. As the volcano grew towards
sea level the water pressure decreased and activity became explosive.
-- Information courtesy NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center Website,
2003, and Volcano World Website, 2003
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