Geography In Action

Summary:

The volcanic eruption of the volcano “Kilauea” in Hawaii started in early March 2018.  On April 30th, after weeks of pressure building, the crater floor collapsed and magma started to flow underground. The next few days had hundreds of small earthquakes on the east side of the volcano. On May 3rd a 5.0 earthquake happened and lava started erupting from the lower parts of the volcano. By May 21st two separate lava flows had made its way to the ocean and by June 25th the lava flows had destroyed 657 houses. The lava flow has forced around 1700 residents had to be evacuated from their homes.

A few interactions between the geographical spheres in this event are the lithosphere (magma and volcano) and the biosphere by the lava flowing over and destroying the plant life around the lava rivers toward the ocean. Another interaction is the technosphere where the houses and roads and towns made by humans is being destroyed by the lava rivers that are flowing toward the oceans.

Response:

On an update from May 30th, the US Environmental Protection Agency had installed air monitoring stations around the area of the volcano, mostly in residential and school areas to monitor air quality. While no new solutions have been proposed for dealing with volcanic eruptions and lava flows older solutions have included building concrete barriers and bombing the lava flows to redirect them. The bombing of lava flows is controversial because besides the obvious issue of bombing near residential areas. The bombing can do three things: one, actually works and redirects the lava flow away from residential areas. Two, bombing is ineffective and does nothing to redirect the lava flow and three, the bombing works but doesn’t redirect the lava flow.

This event makes me feel sorrow and both interest and excitement. I feel sorrow because so many people have lost their homes but I’m interested and excited because I really like volcanos and how it destroys in a beautiful way and the fact that I’ve been interested in volcanos for a long time.

A solution I have is to find a place to rebuild all the lost homes and buildings in a safe location and to see if it’s possible to built channels in the ground in an attempt to redirect a majority of the lava away from the human population.

Sources:

Volcano Kilauea: What stops eruptions of lava? (2018, May 14). Retrieved October 13, 2018, from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-44054064

Kilauea volcano (Hawai’i) activity update: Eruptive hiatus continues, gas emissions at lowest levels since before 1983. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/hawaii/kilauea/current-activity.html

EPA Kilauea Eruption Response Update: May 30, 2018. (2018, May 30). Retrieved October 13, 2018, from https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-kilauea-eruption-response-update-may-30-2018

Bressan, D. (2018, May 28). When The U.S. Army Bombed Hawaii’s Volcanoes. Retrieved October 13, 2018, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidbressan/2018/05/27/when-the-u-s-army-bombed-hawaiis-volcanoes/#374513ad3077