46, 47, 48, 49. 50! or The Yin and Yang of the USA

As followers of our blog know, we have gone to Alaska the last 2 years on sojourns - in 2016 to Homer and in 2017 to Soldotna.  We've written numerous blog posts on our travels there - the mountains; the animals; the roads, etc.  Here's links to some of them if you'd like to read them nostalgically:

Denali Flyover

Our Sojourn in Homer, AK

Our Trip to Seward, AK

Alaska was the 49th state.  It became a state on January 3, 1959.  This must have made for an interesting flag for almost 9 months - it would have had 7 rows of 7 stars = 49 stars, I suppose.  

As we write this Irene and I are in Maui, Hawaii - the 50th state.  It became a state August 29th, 1959.  

Despite all the obvious differences - the weather; the people; the size, etc., there is one possibly not so obvious similarity (without thinking about it first).  Both of the states have been shaped by volcanic activity.  As you may remember from the previous post "One Hood Beats Three Sisters and a Jefferson" I really am into volcanoes.  So I was impressed to know that in the case of Alaska there are over 130 volcanoes.  Most of them are along the "Pacific Rim of Fire" shown in the picture below:

The Pacific Ocean and the "Ring of Fire"

As you look at this picture above, right underneath of the "of" in "Ring of Fire" you'll see 2 "Volcano Triangles".  These are on the Hawaiian Islands.  Each of the largest of the Hawaiian Islands (the ones we think of when we think of Hawaii) are all of volcanic origin.  FYI, the state of Hawaii is MUCH more than most of us realize.  Below is a picture of the entire Hawaiian Chain:

The Entire Hawaiian Archipelago.  The Hawaii we "know" is the green islands on the bottom right side of the picture.  The rest of the state of Hawaii is in the circle from the center right to the upper left of the picture.

The Hawaiian Chain is over what is called a "Hot Spot" in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.  A hot spot is a thin region in the mantle of the earth.  This allows molten lava to leak and begin to build a mound at the floor of the ocean.  Eventually that mound begins to appear ABOVE sea level, at which time it is called an island.  (Another hot spot - in the North Atlantic - is responsible for the island of Iceland).  As the Pacific tectonic plate moves the hot spot remains in the same location and continues to bubble mounds at the same spot BUT now where these mounds are at when they reach sea level is NOT at the same place because the tectonic plate itself has moved.  

We spent our first week on "the Big Island."  While on the island, we went up to Kilauea, an active Volcano on the southwest side of the island.  

Below is a picture and a video we took of the Kilauea Crater.  It can be best seen at night since none of the lava in the chamber appears above the caldera rim.  It's like a pot of boiling hot rock. What is seen in our picture and video below is the "glow" of the lava in the caldera in night sky.

Below: A picture of the Kilauea Volcano when it is actually erupting.  This picture is from its 1983 eruption:

We also took an helicopter flight over the Pu'u o'o crater that has been continuously active since January 3, 1983 (34 years and counting).  In that time it has added 45 SQUARE MILES of new land to the island.  Some of the lava flows are over 80 deep.  It was both mind-blowing and awe-inspiring to see.  Below are some pictures of the crater and lave flows:

Above: 2 Pictures of the Caldera of the Pu'u o'o Crater,  The dark gray on top is essentially the same thing as the scum that forms on tomato soup when you make it with milk! LOL  It is lava that, since it is contacting the air above the caldera is cooled enough to begin to harden.  This volcano has been in one long, continuous period of activity since January of 1983.

This is one of the cliffs where the lava from the Pu'u o'o crater falls into the sea.  Just left of the center of the picture you can see a red/orange column of molten lava dropping into the ocean.  A close up of the same picture showing the lava fountain is below.

On its path from the caldera to the sea the lava goes through "lava tubes."  These are literally tunnels through the lava beds caused by the lava cooling on the surface (like in the caldera pictures), but becoming cold enough to become rock.  This allows the lava underneath to stay hot enough to continue to be a liquid on its path to the sea.  The temperature of the lava is from 1300 - 2200 degrees Fahrenheit. (700 - 1200 degrees Celsius for all you wacky metric freaks out there).

These are unburned trees laying on the top of a long-cooled lava flow.  Interestingly, the lava cools fast enough on the surface that, while the trunk of the tree BENEATH the lava burnt, the tree ABOVE the lava flow did not.  So, it just falls over unburned because its roots and trunk are gone - burned in the molten lava that was beneath the surface at one time.  These are still just laying there from an eruption that occurred 10-20 years ago.

You can see the paved road that USED to go along the southern side of the Big Island (from the bottom right hand corner at about a  30 degree angle).   It was covered by 4 FEET of lava in the mid 1980s.  When Irene and I first went to the Island in about 1984 - 1986 or so, this had just happened.  There was still steam rising from parts of the cooling rock.

Above: Two pictures of the miles and miles and miles of cooled lava rock.  The lava on the Hawaiian Islands is essentially basalt.  That's why it is dark gray to almost black.

Below: A representational map of the lava flows from the Pu'u o'o volcano since it began erupting in 1983: