| In 1790, a major hydromagmatic eruption at the summit of Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii, deposited up to ten meters of pyroclastic fall and surge deposits and killed several dozen Hawaiian natives who were crossing the island. Previous studies have hypothesized that the explosivity of this eruption was due to the influx of groundwater into the conduit, and mixing of the groundwater with ascending magma. This study proposes that surface water, not groundwater, was the agent responsible for the explosiveness of the eruption. -- Mastin, 1997 |
