The Volcano of Mauna Loa.

Auckland Star, Volume XXII, Issue 139, 13 June 1891, Page 3 (Supplement)

The Volcano of Mauna Loa.

A Sudden Breakdown.

A remarkable change has taken place in the condition of this celebrated volcano at bhe Hawaiian Islands. A recenb Honolulu paper says :— The lasb breakdown in bhe floor of bhe craber, engulfed Halemaumau, Dana Lake, New Lake, and bhe 14 or 15 active blowholes surrounding the bluffs over Halemaumau, including the bluffs themselves, covers an area of 3,000 feeb long by 2,500 feet wide. The sides of the breakdown are nearly or quite perpendicular on all sides, with a debris slopo starring part way down the side of the cliffs, and sloping to a central point, which poinb is aboub 500 feeb below bhe level of bhe surrounding floor of bhe craber.

The breakdown is slightly larger than the one of 1886. It also differs from the one of 1886 in tiie following respects:—ln 1886 the fire appeared to have entirely gone out, there seemed to be no smoke and bub libble steam left, and for throe months the crater was absolutely dead and cold, with the exception of the -till warm lava which had run out prior to the breakdown. The lava then came back slowly, and ib was considerably over a year before the whole was filled up again. The breakdown of 1891 leffi hot lava still to be seen in tho cracks around the edge of the breakdown, and dense clouds of smoke and intense heab arising ab several points from the bank. After a lapse of only three weeks the molten lava again appeared in the pit, and it is now filling up rapidly. The news brought by the W. G. Hall was thab up to the 26th inst. the bottom of the pit had filled up aboub 100 feet, and a lake of liquid lava formed some 250 to 300 feet This is the result of only ten days' acbion. The bobbom of the pit was steadily rising, and the size ot the lake increasing, and acbivity showing ibself ab new points every day. The illumination was very bright, being visible at nighb ab Punaluu,.thirty miles away. Those who visibed the volcano prior to the collapse, can probably recall the immense lava piles to the left of Dana Lake, and indeed all around the site of old Halemaumau, several hundred feet in height. When the collapse took place in March last, all these immense ridges subsided, leaving a hollow depression 3,000 feeb long and 2,500 feeb wide, and 500 feet deep, making a subsidence from the top of the old precipices to the bottom of the new sunken crater of nearly if not quite a thousand feeb. The inference is that the molten lava was suddenly drawn off through some other (perhaps submarine) opening, allowing this immense pile of rockß to subside and fill the space before occupied by the lava. Prof. W. T. Brigham's Report of the Recent Breakdown. By permission of Prof. W. D. Alexander, Surveyor-General, we are able to give our readers an accounb of bhe labe breakdown of bhe volcano, furnished by Prof. W. T. Brigham for bhe surveyor's office. Prof. Brigham has also given an accounb of the volcano's condition prior to this breakdown. The following interesting description is whab he has bo say in reply bo a request of the Surveyor-General:— On the 2nd of April, at your request, I visited the crater again, and found the following condition of bhings :—From the house, the absence of the two landmarks — bhe peaks and bhe column of smoke was ab once noticed, and as night fell the accustomed look towards Halemaumau meb nob the faintest glimmer of light ; all was as cold and dead as the grand old dome of Mauna Loa ten thousand feet above it.

The next morning the yawning pib was clear cut as seen from the house, and only a pale bluish smoke arose from its lips. Beyond, to the southward, was a white smoke thab rose and fell, bub was not of considerable extent. On descending into the crater, the crack was found unchanged. Many smaller cracks intersected the trail, especially towards the middle of the crater, bub the condition of the stone monuments on bhe rock called bhe ' Half Way House,' showed conclusively bhab there had been very little disturbance in the crater itself; not one of the stone piles had been upset. The lava flow .noticed on the previous visit was still warm, and on the borders of the depression was red hot. The entire fire area was gone. Peaks, cones and pools had vanished, and in their place was a pit crater of elliptical outline, 2,500 by 3,000 feet, the major axis being nearly east and west. The walla were perpendicular and quite impassable. The estimated depth was 500 feet. There were many concentric and radial cracks, making ib dangerous in many places to approach tho edge. Almost all tho smoke proceeded from the hot upper crust of the border, none came from the bottom; and whileevery portion of the pibwasclearly seen, bheheabed air constantly rising from the border made photographing a partial failure. Portions of the cracked lips had sunk, leaving steps towards the pib. There was a complete absence of any black in the walls or bottom ; all shades of brown, red and yellow, but generally light; nob in the least fresh looking. _ Except for size, it looked quite like Mokuaweoweo, and might have been as old. The walls were in remarkably even layers, nocavities.dykes or greatirregularities were ' to be seen. It was a wall of masonry whos6 ! w**>~fc time had crumbled, and it would

hardly have seemed oub of place had some vine brailled its festoons down the courses. The bottom was a confused mass of lava blocks of the same colour as the walls and was deeper at tli6 west side. The impression was that the top of the peaks was there.