"Unmitigated Disaster" - Practical Example Of The Phrase

Thread Starter

Glenn Holland

Joined Dec 26, 2014
703
What happens when your community and your home gets overrun with millions of tons of lava?

Probably nothing. The Kalapana Gardens subdivision is downhill from Hawaii's Kilauea Volcano is a prime example of an unmitigated disaster:


If you can get insurance for such a catastrophe, companies are charging $1000/year just for volcano coverage. I suppose it's more like a life insurance policy so when your loved one (more like your loved home) is gone, you have only a check to show for it.
 

Thread Starter

Glenn Holland

Joined Dec 26, 2014
703
In San Francisco, earthquake insurance on a large 4 story apartment building is $14K/year.

I guess $1K/year for a single family home in a volcano zone like Southern Hawaii isn't out of line.
 

Thread Starter

Glenn Holland

Joined Dec 26, 2014
703
I couldn't believe there were house on the slopes of Stromboli. Who would do that!!??!!
http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/stromboli.html
The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory is on the top of the crater of the Kilauea Volcano which erupts most of the time.

It is classified as a "low pressure" volcano with low viscosity lava that releases energy at a steady rate and it's less prone to explosions.

It's fairly safe to get close to the crater even with a 1000 foot lava fountain and scientists tell visitors they're in more danger walking across a busy intersection.
 

Thread Starter

Glenn Holland

Joined Dec 26, 2014
703
Things are heating up fast (figuratively and literally) in Hawaii and here's the latest on that new volcanic eruption:



There's a lot happening by the hour so for updates, just do a search for "Leilani Estates lava flow".
 

Thread Starter

Glenn Holland

Joined Dec 26, 2014
703
Here's the latest and greatest as of today 05-0618:
Lava ignites a home:

The fissure eruption is picking up steam:

Cracks in the pavement evolve into a fissure eruption:
 

Thread Starter

Glenn Holland

Joined Dec 26, 2014
703
The Hawaiian lava flow takes another victim in the form of an abandoned car.

This is an A'-A' (pronounced Ah-Ah) flow where the top of the lava over-rides the bottom like a bulldozer track. A'-A' flows are the same temperature and chemical composition as the more common "Pahoehoe" flow which is like a thick gooooy mass that slowly creeps along the ground.

However, A'-A' flows are formed by shear thickening which creates huge chunks of molten coals called "Clinkers" because they make a sound like broken glass being swept over the top of the flow.

 

Thread Starter

Glenn Holland

Joined Dec 26, 2014
703
After about 3 days of calm, a new fissure eruption has appeared in Leilani Estates:


If I lived in that area, I'd run out and buy an infrared camera to make sure something's not lurking under my backyard. o_O
 

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
13,079
https://hilo.hawaii.edu/~kenhon/GEOL205/Flank/default.htm

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2007JB005124
[2] The south flank of Kīlauea volcano is currently undergoing active volcanic collapse, apparent in onshore geodetic monitoring. The majority of Kīlauea's south flank, however, is submerged, requiring offshore geodetic monitoring to capture the complete deformation signal associated with this collapse. In this paper, we present the first seafloor geodetic data on Kīlauea which confirm that the submerged south flank of the volcano is currently mobile.

[3] Geological remnants of past slumping, sliding, and catastrophic slope failure have been observed on the flanks of many ocean island volcanoes including La Réunion, the Canary Islands, Samoa, Fiji, Stromboli, and the Hawaiian islands, however the mechanics of the collapse process are not well understood [Duffield et al., 1982; Carracedo, 1999; Keating et al., 2000; Cronin et al., 2004; Apuani et al., 2005; Moore et al., 1994]. Understanding this process has significant societal relevance because flank collapse is often associated with major earthquakes, ground deformation, and tsunami.
 
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