Photograph as originally submitted to this page in the Historical Marker Database www.HMdb.org. Click on photo to resize in browser. Scroll down to see metadata.

Photographer: Karen Key
Taken: September 1, 2007
Caption: Kilauea, Rising Smoke Cloud
Additional Description: A caldera has likely existed at Kilauea's summit for as long as has the volcano. Collapse occurred repeatedly as magma swelled the summit area and then drained rapidly through the flanking rift zones. large fault blocks have formed here and at Uwekahuna Bluff as repeated collapse steepened the caldera walls.

Since the last major collapse, repeated overflows of Halemaumau and eruptions from the caldera floor have partially refilled the basin. Early Western explorers described a much different scene, with cliffs 900 feet high. Today cliffs rise half that height, indicating the pace of caldera filling during historic time.

Submitted: October 15, 2007, by Karen Key of Sacramento, California.
Database Locator Identification Number: p8427
File Size: 0.660 Megabytes

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