Halema'uma'u Crater - Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, HI
Posted by: 
denben
N 19° 25.181 W 155° 17.273
5Q E 259760 N 2148860
Halema'uma'u Crater is a pit crater located within the much larger summit caldera of Kilauea in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. The roughly circular crater floor is 770 meters (2,530 ft) x 900 m (2,950 ft) and is 83 m (270 ft) below the floor of Kilauea caldera.
Waymark Code: WMR2MM
Location: Hawaii, United States
Date Posted: 05/03/2016
Views: 6
The sign reads:
"Halema'uma'u Crater
For 100 years lava boiled in this crater-within-a-crater
The dramatic crater on the caldera below is known as both Halema'uma'u (house of te amau fern) or Halemaumau (house of eternal fire). According to tradition, it is the sacred home of Pelehonuamea, the powerful goddess of thes volcanoes - a home that lies at the eruptive heart of Kilauea.
From 1823 until 1924, Halema'uma'u contained a lake of lava.
Over the years the crater floor rose and fell as the lava supply fluctuated. At times the crater featured a perched lava pond as seen in this 1894 Hitchcock painting above. On other occasions, lava filled the crater to overflowing and molten rivers raged across the caldera.
The climax of the lava lake activity came in 1924 when Halema'uma'u exploded.
Contact between magma and groundwater set off a series of violent steam explosions. Mud rained and lightning flashed from the massive ash clouds that surged thousands of feet into the sky. The blasts hurled an 8 ton (8.128 kg) boulder 1,000 feet (304 m) and doubled the width of the crater to a half mile (800m) wide.
A lake of lave churns in the fuming crater.
Over a dozen eruptions have transformed Halema'uma'u since 1924. On March 19, 2008, a predawn explosion heralded the onset of the current eruption and blasted a new crater in the floor of Halema'uma'u. A surging lake of lava soon appeared within the pit and clouds of caustic fumes forced the closure of parts of Crater Rim Drive. Churning lava, deep in the crater. illuminates the night skies above the home of Pelehonuamea."
Group that erected the marker: Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: [Web Link]
Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary:
Jaggar Museum
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
Volcano, Hawaii, Usa
96718
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