VOLCANIC PHENOMENA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21998, 6 July 1933, Page 12

VOLCANIC PHENOMENA

THE CYCLE OF KILAUEA i At the Medical School last night, Dr H. T. Stearns, : of the United States Geological Survey, gave the second of his public addresses on yolcanic phenomena, taking as his subject “ The Cycle of Kilauea, Hawaii.” The lecture was illustrated with moving pictures, showing all phases of the volcano of Kilauea under eruption. One reel showed the lava fountains playing 300 feet in the air, the photographs being taken at night. The second reel illustrated the motion of the molten rock in the lake at Kilauea prior to the explosion of 1924. This is one of the few ■places in the world where it has been possible to take pictures of molten lava. A number of the photographs were taken within 8 feet of the molten rock, which had a temperature of about 1000 degrees centigrade. Some of the lava beds adjacent to Dunedin, and underlying the city, .were formed, said the lecturer, in the manner shown in the pictures. Dr Stearns also. described the various types of lava flows that had taken place from Kilauea, many of which were extremely unusual. In 1823, for instance, lava was erupted which when cool covered an area of several square miles to a depth of a foot. The flow of 1923, just 100 years later, was also unusual, in that trees which were surrounded by it continued to grow, and at the present time clots of lava could be seen hanging in the forks of the trees. Touching on the cycle of Kilauea, the lecturer said it began with the great explosion of 1790 and ended with the explosion of 1924. The intermediate cycle was closely related to periods of sun-spot activity, which suggested that sun-spot disturbances influenced the eruption of lava from Kilauea. Dr Stearns said that Lyttelton and Akaroa harbours lay in the eroded craters of two volcanoes similar in all respects to the volcano of Kilauea. The moving pictures of the fire fountains illustrated the type of eruption which formed the cones about Auckland, as at Mount Eden.

The third and final of the addresses, entitled “Thermal Activity ” will be given this evening, when Dr Stearns will speak on a rival in America to the famous Rotorua district of New Zealand.