Kilauea, the active Hawaiian volcano, could erupt like a ‘toy rocket’, a new study suggests

Scientists may have found the mechanism behind the unusual explosive eruptions seen at one of the world’s most active volcanoes.

Kilauea, located in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island, experienced at least a dozen instances in 2018 of lava spewing from the crater like a “stomp rocket,” a children’s toy that involves launching a rocket into the air after stepping on a release mechanism. according to a paper published Monday in the journal Nature Geosciences.

The unusual behavior of the eruption likely contributed to the strength of that lava flow that year, which destroyed more than 600 properties, Josh Crozier, a geologist at Stanford University and lead researcher on the study, told ABC News.

The eruptions — sometimes up to 30 feet high — were atypical because explosive eruptions are usually fueled by rising molten rock — magma — or by the expansion of steam from magma that heats groundwater. Geologists believe that the toy rocket mechanism that caused the 2018 eruptions likely resulted from the collapse of a magma reservoir, which suddenly increased the pressure of gas trapped in the chamber and led to an explosive eruption.

A combination of seismic and geodetic instruments indicates a large, sudden inflation of all the ground around the magma reservoir, while infrasound measurements, which essentially measure low-frequency sounds, indicate a drop in air pressure, Crozier said.

“It’s really quite different from the typical spectrum of eruptions that are driven by groundwater and magma,” he said.

The findings could also help explain the formation of atmospheric clouds of hot gas and rock particles erupted by the volcano, the researchers said.

When the clouds are that high, aviation hazards are created, ash falls and gases are released, Crozier said.

Abnormal eruptions at Kilauea were documented as far back as the 1920s, which began a series of relatively large explosive eruptions, said Crozier, who conducted the study while working at the US Geological Survey.

In 2018, extra explosive activity at the summit helped fuel the powerful outpouring of magma, Crozier said. Lava then poured along the volcano’s eastern rift zone, damaging hundreds of homes on its way to the ocean, he added.

Each time a collapse occurred at the summit, it pushed up the explosive plumes and increased the pressure in the magma reservoir at the summit, which then increased the rate at which the magma was expelled, Crozier said.

The impact rocket mechanism may not be unique to Kilauea and eruptions may also have occurred at other volcanoes around the world, several of which occurred in the last century, according to the study.

Similar eruptions at Kilauea could occur in the future, but would be “highly unlikely” in the next decade, Crozier said.

“The important thing is that they can happen under potential conditions where you wouldn’t necessarily expect an explosive eruption to come out of the top of a volcano,” Crozier said of the unique mechanism. “So you definitely need to be aware of the possibilities in these volcanoes.”

Understanding the dynamics of cloud formation, especially those containing hot gas and rock particles that can pose a threat to human health, is important to predict for residents living nearby, the researchers said.