Historical Eruptions of Kilauea Volcano

Summary of Eruptions

Historical Eruptions at Kilauea volcano have occurred from both the summit caldera and from vents along the East Rift Zone. The historical record began with a very explosive phreatomagmatic eruption in 1790. After this, the volcano was almost continuously active, mostly showing gentle effusion from a lava lake at the summit until 1924, when it again erupted explosively. The period 1924 to 1955 saw mostly short-duration summit eruptions. From 1955 to the present Kilauea has seen mostly East Rift Zone activity interspersed with small summit eruptions. Two notable rift eruptions were Mauna Ulu (1969-1974) and Pu`u `O`o (1983-present).
Kilauea's Eruption rate diminished steadily over the first half of the historic period but has been increasing again since 1924.

Year	Date of Outbreak	Duration (days)	Location	Volume (cubic meters)
1750 (?)	-	-	East rift	14,200,000
1790 (?)	-	-	East rift	27,500,000
1790	November (?)	-	Caldera	No lava flow
1823	Feb.-July	Short	Southwest rift	11,000,000
1832	Jan. 14	Short	East rim of caldera	(?)
1840	May 30	26	East rift	205,000,000
1868	April 2	Short	Kilauea Iki	(?)
1868	April 2 (?)	Short	Southwest rift	183,000
1877	May 4	1 (?)	Caldera wall	(?)
1877	May 21 (?)	-	Keanakakoi	(?)
1884	Jan. 22	1	East rift	(?)
1885	March	80 (?)	Caldera	(?)
1894	Mar. 21	6+	Caldera	(?)
1894	July 7	4 (?)	Caldera	(?)
1918	Feb. 23	14	Caldera	183,000
1919	Feb. 7	294	Caldera	25,200,000 (?)
1919	Dec. 21	221	Southwest rift	45,300,000
1921	Mar. 18	7	Caldera	6,400,000
1922	May 28	2	Makaopuhi and Napau	(?)
1923	Aug 25 (?)	1	East rift	73,000
1924	May 10	17	Caldera	No lava
1924	July 19	11	Halemaumau	234,000
1927	July 7	13	Halemaumau	2,300,000
1929	Feb. 20	2	Halemaumau	1,400,000
1929	July 25	4	Halemaumau	2,600,000
1930	Nov. 19	19	Halemaumau	6,200,000
1931	Dec. 23	14	Halemaumau	7,000,000
1934	Sept. 6	33	Halemaumau	6,900,000
1952	June 27	136	Halemaumau	46,700,000
1954	May 31	3	Halemaumau and caldera	6,200,000
1955	Feb. 28	88	East rift	87,600,000
1959	Nov. 14	36	Kilauea Iki	37,200,000
1960	Jan. 13	36	East rift	113,200,000
1961	Feb. 24	1	Halemaumau	22,000
1961	Mar. 3	22	Halemaumau	260,000
1961	July 10	7	Halemaumau	12,600,000
1961	Sept. 22	3	East rift	2,200,000
1962	Dec. 7	2	East rift	310,000
1963	Aug. 21	2	East rift	800,000
1963	Oct. 5	1	East rift	6,600,000
1965	Mar. 5	10	East rift	16,800,000
1965	Dec. 24	<1	East rift	850,000
1967	Nov. 5	251	Halemaumau	80,300,000
1968	Aug. 22	5	East rift	130,000
1968	Oct. 7	15	East rift	6,600,000
1969	Feb. 22	6	East rift	16,100,000
1969	May 24	867	East rift	176,700,000
1971	Aug. 14	<1	Caldera	9,100,000
1971	Sept. 24	5	Caldera and southwest rift	7,700,000
1972	Feb. 4	455	East rift	119,600,000
1973	May 5	<1	East rift	1,200,000
1973	Nov. 10	30	East rift	2,700,000
1973	Dec. 12	203	East rift	28,700,000
1974	July 19	3	Caldera and east rift	6,600,000
1974	Sept. 19	<1	Caldera	10,200,000
1974	Dec. 31	<1	Southwest rift	14,300,000
1975	Nov. 29	<1	Caldera	220,000
1977	Sept. 13	18	East rift	32,900,000
1979	Nov. 16	1	East rift	580,000
1982	Apr. 31	<1	Caldera	500,000
1982	Sept. 25	<1	Caldera	3,000,000
1983	Jan. 3	on going	East rift (Pu`u `O`o)	on going

Data for eruptions prior to 1960 are from Stearns and Macdonald, 1946. Data for eruptions from 1960 onward are from Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reports. Data source: Volcanoes in the Sea, 2nd Ed. by Macdonald, Abbott and Peterson, University of Hawaii Press, 1983.
Kilauea is a broad shield volcano built against the southeastern slope of Mauna Loa. The summit presently has a caldera that is roughly 4km by 3.2km wide, and walls of between 0 m and 120m high. Another feature, known as Halemaumau crater, lies within the main caldera (on the southwestern side). For the past century, Halemaumau has been the principal site of activity at Kilauea's summit. There has also been frequent activity along the Southeast rift zone (such as the presently active Pu'u 'O'o eruption, which started in 1983). While at nearby Mauna Loa eruptions tend to occur in pairs (i.e., a summit eruption followed by one on the flank), Kilauea's pattern of summit versus flank activity appear to be more random. However, evidence of numerous flank eruptions occurring after a summit eruption can be found.
The thin pahoehoe flows that built Kilauea can be seen in the walls of the caldera. Pahoehoe flows predominate in that region because they are close to the vents in which they were issued. With the increasing distance from the caldera and rift zones, aa becomes more abundant, particularly nearer the coast.

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Last page update on 11 May 2005