Today we got to visit the Chain of Craters in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park!
Originally built in 1928 and modified in 1959, The Chain of Craters Road is 19 miles long. It was partly buried in the 1969 eruption and reopened in 1979. Driving on the road, we were able to see all kinds of lava streams from the past 50 years.
There are seventeen pit craters along the east rift zone of Kilauea that make up the chain of craters. Pit craters are depressions that form as the earth fractures when a volcano shifts or expands. Pit craters are usually oval-shaped and have steep walls. They’re formed from collapse, rather than formed from explosive events like you might assume; we know that they were formed by collapse because if they had they formed by explosion, there would be a lot of debris around. Also, the craters are all fairly young; all of them were created from lava flows that are less than 750 years old.
We got out and saw a semi-hidden crater, Devil’s Throat. It was so deep! We got to hear about how it used to only be about 20 meters wide. There is some story that says it was so narrow of a split that a horse jumped over it, but now it is clearly much more wide than that. It was super cool to see!
We also walked around and took a look at some lava rocks. I loved getting to see the ones that were iridescent and looked rainbow-like. This happens when the lava cools quickly and forms a glassy layer on top of the rock. Super cool!
I loved this stop!
— HG Kornberg