Lava Spatter Ramparts and Fissures of 1969-74 Mauna Ulu Eruption in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

Team up with geology professor Shawn Willsey as he investigates the spectacular volcanic geology from the 1969-74 eruptions at Mauna Ulu in Hawaii.
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[@bradmcewen]

Grateful for the opportunity to see this very well described landscape. 👌

[@megbernstein8452]

Amazing to see different features and to compare locations.

[@fianorian]

What a fascinating tour. Even if I had the strength or money to be able to visit such a place, I would probably not understand what I was looking at. Thanks for letting me tag along. ;)

[@gilscot100]

Thank you for sharing and filming this volcano. Feb 2017 we spent a couple of days exploring Volcanos National Park on the Big Island. All the different types of lava, walking through lava tubes, petroglyphs, all the degassing still going on and up at the rim with the glow of the lava deep in Halema’uma’u. A very special place.

[@ElekTrikPurple1]

The tree moldings are possibly the most interesting preservation I've never seen in person. Thanks for showing this cool feature. 😎 👍

[@shawnwillsey]

You’ll like this then: kzbin.info/www/bejne/o6uapGR5qsdsb9Ufeature=shared

[@ElekTrikPurple1]

@@shawnwillsey thanks for the link, I enjoyed it 😁 PS, I've learned quite a bit from your channel. Thanks for taking the time to explain stuff, it helps unravel the backyard mysteries of Ireland's geology. Love your other vids also

[@whitby910]

Thank you.

[@susierider55]

I was there in February! Nice to have a proper geological explanation for the topography.

[@lornaperryman489]

Here we go again! I just love these videos.I learned so much

[@TheRealOtakuJoe]

I could only imagine how great of a time is was to be a volcanologist working at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory from the late 50's through early 70's with the high fountaining eruptions of Kilauea Iki, Kapoho and Mauna Ulu.

[@joannekellam191]

Wow, spectacular! Amazing that vegetation is growing down in the vent. Thanks for putting together another great educational video for us!

[@vintagelady1]

Eerie & amazing. I always think of geological features being formed w/ excruciating slowness, but when it's a volcano, it's a whole different game. Thank-you for sharing your knowledge!

[@cdineaglecollapsecenter4672]

I saw part of that eruption in 1970.

[@michaelnaretto3409]

I always get spooked walking around lava fields.

[@michaelnaretto3409]

I used to live in Idaho Falls and there are lava formations everywhere. In the Winter I could see steam rising from the rocks. Craters of the Moon was fun to visit. In the Summer those ice caves felt great. Still, it was eerie being out there. I was always paranoid about molten rock making a sudden appearance....

[@sandragostanian8878]

Fascinating, as always. I was especially taken by the tree molds.

[@robbirobin9657]

That's amazing, and it started the year before I was born.

[@reekoreeko1857]

Wow, what an awesome looking place. Thank you for sharing.

[@alexandraeatmon9045]

Thanks for sharing. Loved the trees at the end.

[@LizWCraftAdd1ct]

Love these features, thank you Shawn.

[@Tridentmover1]

Awesome, Thank you for showing,

[@ericfielding2540]

Very interesting to see the Mauna Ulu fissure eruption features now they are cool and slightly eroded to show more of the layers. This gives a great background for understanding the fissure eruption in Iceland this month.

[@LisaBelleBC]

You get to go to the greatest places! Thanks for sharing!

[@diannamoore1522]

I was thre just a month ago (my 2nd visit) and spent much of the week drivig around the park. I'm no longer able to hike but hired a guide who explained the formations from pullouts on the Chain of Craters Rd. Ulu was definately the one front and center of my attention and his narrative. It;s a fascinating part of the island, and definately my favorite. The mix of a'a and pahoehoe cascading over the pali was so cool. Thanks for this video and the further explanations.

[@JanetClancey]

You teach so well amazing landscape and features… helps understand what’s happening in Iceland… albeit smaller but just now very unpredictable Thank you Shawn

[@HH.......]

Thank you Shawn 😊 very informative and fascinating lesson 👍 👏 😊

[@williamwood9948]

The second geologic event to help form my interest....(the first was the observant bulldozer operator in Rocky Hill, Ct., who found the 'dino tracks...) lol The "moving pictures" on the family's B&W set were impressive, but the color photos in Nat. Geographic? Omg! Today's "Coverage with Willsey"??? Keep on truckn' Professor! Ty! P.S.Shawn....ran into an old student of yours, who handed me a rock and told me that when I get it to you, you could identify it...) Cheers!

[@corrinneloudon525]

Thank you for another interesting video, Shawn. It’s fascinating to see all the different structural features, as well as the plants starting to colonise the Lava. I had the joy of going to a rock, gem and mineral show yesterday. Imagine a large sports hall filled with rows of tables laden with rocks and mineral specimens, raw and polished, of so many different colours and shapes, from all over the world! Some of the amethyst geodes were at least half a metre tall, utterly spectacular! How does one tell whether an ordinary rounded stone is actually a geode?

[@sandrine.t]

Thank you @shawnwillsey for another great educational video! I really like the 'lava trees'! They reminded me of another video of yours, shot at Craters of the Moon I think...? Awesome :)

[@pascalekarger7527]

Never heard about tree molding before. Very interesting

[@gailgreen5012]

Riveting. Thank you so very much.

[@MrMlyarber]

I have been watching you since last November because of the Iceland events. I've learned a lot and really enjoy your talks. My brother taught Earth Science in a high school in Indiana for 40 years. I believe in Creation but the info you explain about magna, faults, cones, etc. is very helpful in a l what I believe. Kept up the good work.

[@maryt2887]

Interesting to see how spatter can form in different shapes. The tree bore holes are cool, too.

[@xwiick]

Thanks for all of your hard work man!

[@bky312]

Loved this!

[@muzikhed]

Nice place. Interesting observations. We are presently watching that happen now in Iceland. So cool.

[@valoriel4464]

Thx Prof. ✌🏻 Another nice geo-adventure

[@od.vandeveer]

Nice to see those spatter features. That must be how the new spatter cone in Iceland will look like if you could get up close

[@lindabriggs5118]

Thank you for the interesting information. I have been to Volcanos National Park many times and I find it so fascinating. Did you give a gift to Madam Pele? I hiked once to watch the erupting fountains and even though the actual eruption was about 1 mile away, you could still hear the roar and watch the lava spilling down around the terrain. One time while I was visiting the museum, for some reason a small group of Nene's kept following me around. They used to beg for food but nobody, including me, would feed them. They are friendly creatures. But I recommend if one has the time, visiting Volcanos is great. (Bring a sweater or jacket, it can get quite cold 🥶 up there.)

[@isasala9111]

Very interesting. Thank you!

[@robmez]

Give a good indication what’s going on with the cone in the Icelandic eruption,

[@carolschroeder5331]

Yup! This is where I will be next week! Can you arrange a new eruption?

[@jmuehlbauer42]

Just love these videos! Do you, or others, know how deep the fissures are? Thanks for all you do and the information you give us,

[@diannamoore1522]

Thanks!

[@anitapaulsen3282]

A lot of places look like what you have called tephra? It sounds like very crunchy gravel when you walk. Sometimes like splintering glass. Anyway, very cool and interesting things lava causes. Wow....

[@sparkleflair]

If the Grindavik spatter cone collapses, will the remains be considered spatter ramparts or just a collapsed cone? That's so cool to see where the trees used to be!!

[@Gladys7477]

Love all of your videos! Thanks so much, Shawn! Can you tell what caused the spots of red to the lava at 5:27 - 5:35, and 6:33? Is it iron?

[@Sciayam]

Wow, so clearly in form and shape, thanks for this video - will you be back in Island soon?

[@shawnwillsey]

Probably next year.

[@paultodd3497]

Shawn, did you get a chance to climb down the fissure and explore ????

[@LeighAnn_S]

Thank you. ✌️💙

[@harlycorner]

Have you done a video about the recent crazy Las Palmas eruption?

[@shawnwillsey]

No

[@katesommerville7217]

Interesting to see a fissure, makes me wonder what the current Icelandic fissures will look like in 40/50 years!

[@briane173]

One day I have GOT to get over to the Big Island to look at all this volcanism and the imprints they left on the steadily building landscape. Just fascinating. I've got a handle on how Oahu was formed and what happened to give it its shape and topography; but the Big Island is "big" for a reason, and it seems apparent to me that the mantle plume here was VERY active at that stage of the Hawaiian Islands forming above the plume, just owing to the island's size on account of the volcanism there. My understanding is that one day a catastrophic collapse of either Mauna Loa or Mauna Kea is going to reshape the island into landscape reminiscent of Oahu; doubtful it will happen in any of our lifetimes but the two major volcanoes have grown to such size that at least one of them is going to collapse of its own weight at some point. There's scientific literature that intimates that such a collapse is in the island's future, and has the potential to produce a world-class tsunami when it landslides into the ocean like what happened on Oahu.

[@sarahtoland1754]

Wow look at tht scary mother earth 🌎

[@shelleyszulinszky9732]

Seems similar to whats happening in Iceland? ❤️✌️👍

[@shawnwillsey]

Exactly why I reposted this.

[@garyb6219]

Thanks! Any estimate on the depth of the tree mold or the fissures we were looking at?

[@shawnwillsey]

Fissures here were about 5-6 m deep but that’s just what was open to humans. Drain back of lava may have filled them in too n

[@carolynvranjes3396]

What causes the difference in color? Did the color change from rust?

[@RWBHere]

Still steaming, 50 years later... Does that mean that there's still molten magma not too far from the surface? Or is the lava a pretty good insulator?

[@shawnwillsey]

The latter.

[@3xHermes]

👍

[@JeremiahJJay]

Do you think Mauna Ulu will erupt again? I’m curious if these are one and done sites or if they will continue to grow in the future? Just thinking about the eruptions in Iceland too, like the original one at Fagradsfjall, will that exact cone erupt again to continue building a shield volcano such as Mauna Loa?

[@BlueCyann]

Mauna Ulu isn't its own volcano with its own magma storage system, no so, it will never re-erupt as such. You can think of it more as being a random location along one of Kilauea's rift zones where lava happened to erupt for a few years instead of doing so at the summit. Another eruption could happen in the future in the same area, but it would just be a coincidence. You can see that also in Iceland, where the current eruption (or maybe it was the previous one, I've lost track) formed a fissure that cut across a pre-existing crater row, as opposed to the previous craters re-erupting. All subsequent eruptions of Kilauea along the same rift zone as Mauna Ulu have happened in other locations.

[@JeremiahJJay]

@@BlueCyann thank you so much for the reply! I really appreciate it. I’ve been curious about this question for a while now!

[@karenhdietrich8326]

What causes the different colors in the spatter?

[@shawnwillsey]

Oxidation of iron.

[@cchawk6280]

What was date of this field trip? Thanks

[@shawnwillsey]

May 2023

[@paulezycom]

Why is it so crunchy sounding? Will it have different elements in it to form soil quicker?

[@shawnwillsey]

Particles are very brittle and have abundant gas bubbles. Frothy when it erupted.