{"id":5248,"date":"2022-12-14T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-14T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/?p=5248"},"modified":"2022-12-01T15:27:30","modified_gmt":"2022-12-01T15:27:30","slug":"where-mauna-loas-lava-is-coming-from-and-why-hawaiis-volcanoes-are-different-from-most","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/where-mauna-loas-lava-is-coming-from-and-why-hawaiis-volcanoes-are-different-from-most\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Mauna Loa\u2019s lava is coming from \u2013 and why Hawaii\u2019s volcanoes are different from most"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Magma fountains through a fissure on Mauna Loa, becoming lava, on Nov. 30, 2022.\n K. Mulliken\/USGS<\/a><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\nGabi Laske<\/a>, University of California, San Diego<\/a><\/em><\/span>\n\n

Hawaii\u2019s Mauna Loa, the world\u2019s largest active volcano, began sending up fountains of glowing rock<\/a> and spilling lava from fissures as its first eruption in nearly four decades<\/a> began on Nov. 27, 2022.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n

Where does that molten rock come from?<\/em><\/p>\n\n

We asked Gabi Laske<\/a>, a geophysicist at the University of California-San Diego who led one of the first projects to map the deep plumbing that feeds the Hawaiian Islands\u2019 volcanoes, to explain.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n

Where is the magma surfacing at Mauna Loa coming from?<\/h2>\n\n

The magma that comes out of Mauna Loa comes from a series of magma chambers found between about 1 and 25 miles (2 and 40 km) below the surface. These magma chambers are only temporary storage places with magma and gases, and are not where the magma originally came from.<\/p>\n\n

The origin is much deeper in Earth\u2019s mantle<\/a>, perhaps more than 620 miles (1,000 km) deep. Some scientists even postulate that the magma comes from a depth of 1,800 miles (2,900 km)<\/a>, where the mantle meets Earth\u2019s core.<\/p>\n\n

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\n An illustration suggests what Hawaii\u2019s mantle plume might look like.<\/span>\n Joel E Robinson\/USGS<\/span><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n

Earth\u2019s crust is made up of tectonic plates that are slowly moving, at about the same speed as a fingernail grows. Volcanoes typically occur where these plates either move away from each other or where one pushes beneath another. But volcanoes can also be in the middle of plates, as Hawaii\u2019s volcanoes are in the Pacific Plate<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

The crust and mantle that comprise the Pacific Plate cracks at different places as it moves northwestward. Beneath Hawaii, magma can move upward through the cracks to feed different volcanoes on the surface. The same thing happens at Maui\u2019s Haleakala, which last erupted<\/a> about 250 years ago.<\/p>\n\n

How does molten rock travel from deep in Earth\u2019s mantle, and what exactly is a mantle plume?<\/h2>\n\n

Scientists hypothesize that the mantle is not made of uniform rock. Instead, differences in the type<\/a> of mantle rock make it melt at different temperatures<\/a>. Mantle rock is solid at some places, while it starts to melt at other places.<\/p>\n\n

The partially molten rock becomes buoyant and ascends toward the surface. The ascending mantle rock is what makes a mantle plume. Because the overlying pressure lessens as the rock ascends, it melts more and more, and eventually collects in the magma chamber. If a large enough opening exists at the surface, and enough volcanic gases have collected in the magma chamber, the magma is forced to the surface in a volcanic eruption.<\/p>\n\n

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\n The origin of the magma may be more than 620 miles deep, and some scientists have suggested it could come from a depth of 1,800 miles, where the mantle meets Earth\u2019s core.<\/span>\n Gabi Laske<\/span><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n

Seismic imaging by research teams I\u2019m involved with has shown that Hawaii\u2019s mantle plume comes from deep inside the mantle<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

But the plume is not a straight pipe as some concept figures suggest. Instead, it has twists and turns<\/a>, originally coming from the southeast, but then turning toward the west of Hawaii as the plume reaches into the shallower mantle. Cracks in the Pacific Plate then channel the magma upward toward the magma chamber beneath the island of Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n

Why does Hawaii typically see less dramatic eruptions than other locations?<\/h2>\n\n

Hawaii is in the middle of an oceanic plate. In fact, it is the most isolated volcanic hot spot on Earth, far away from any plate boundary.<\/p>\n\n

Oceanic magma is very different from continental magma. It has a different chemical composition and flows much more easily. So, the magma is less prone to clog volcanic vents<\/a> on its ascent, which would ultimately lead to more explosive volcanism.<\/p>\n\n

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