Exploring Hawaiʻi’s Volcanic Landscapes: ERTH 300 Physical Volcanology Field Trips

This October, students in ERTH 300-Physical Volcanology joined two exciting field trips to explore the volcanic features that shape the Hawaiian Islands. The excursions were fundamental for students to apply theoretical concepts learned in the classroom to understand volcanic processes, eruption dynamics and life cycles of Hawaiian volcanoes.

We acknowledge that the ‘āina on which we gathered on Kīlauea and Southeast O‘ahu is part of the larger territory recognized by Indigenous Hawaiians as their ancestral grandmother, Papahānaumoku. We recognize that generations of Indigenous Hawaiians and their knowledge systems shaped Hawai‘i in sustainable ways that allow us to learn from these gifts today. For this, our group of is grateful.

Big Island – Kīlauea and the East Rift Zone (October 11-12)
The first trip was on the Hawaiʻi Island, where students explored the dynamic volcanic features of Kīlauea volcano. The first day was centered around the Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, where students investigated the lava tree molds formed during the 1974 lava flows, and fissure features associated with the 1969-1974 Mauna Ulu eruption (Fig.1).

Figure 1: ERTH300 undergraduate students inside the July 1974 spatter cone.

Continuing down Chain of Craters Road, students examined a cross section of an ʻAʻā lava flow channel and the transitions between ʻAʻā and pāhoehoe lavas (Fig.2).

Figure 2: Mauna Ulu 1974 Muliwai a Pele flow, road cut down Chain of Craters Road.

In the afternoon, the group visited the summit region of Kīlauea, where they discussed caldera collapse processes through the moʻolelo of Pele and Hiʻiaka, and the features of recent summit eruptions 2021-present. The last stop of the day was the Nāhuku lava tube, and as night fell, students were rewarded with Pele’s glow within Halemaʻumaʻu crater.

The second day focused on the Lower East Rift Zone of Kīlauea, where the class visited the F8 ʻĀhuʻailāʻau cone and flow channel (Fig.3), discussing eruption impacts on the Leilani Estates community.

Figure 3: Class on the margins of the Ahu’ailā’au (Fissure 8 – 2018) flow channel.

The trip concluded with stops in Kalapana, to study littoral cones and tumuli (inflation features in pāhoehoe), and at the Pāhoa Transfer Station, where the 2014–2015 lava flows reached local infrastructure.

Southeast Oʻahu – Koko Rift System (October 25)
Later in the month, students explored the rejuvenated-stage volcanic features of southeast Oʻahu, focusing on the Koko Rift System. The trip highlighted deposits from three eruptive centers (Koko Crater, Hanauma Bay complex, and Kahauloa) to illustrate contrasts in eruption intensity, magnitude, and duration between tuff cones and tuff rings (Fig.4).

Figure 4: Class at the top of Hanauma Bay Complex, with view to the Koko Crater.

During their lunch break, students participated in a Volcano Candy Game, in which they designed strategies to launch candy “projectiles” using the wind, height, and momentum. At their last stop in the Lānaʻi Lookout (Fig.5), students examined fine-scale deposits representing successions of dilute pyroclastic density currents (PDCs) with ballistic blocks and bombs that serve as kinematic indicators for identifying source vents.

Figure 5: Undergraduate student Arden Rathkopf, at the base of the Lānaʻi Lookout volcanic succession.

These trips were funded in part by the UH Foundation Earth Sciences Field Trip Fund. Mahalo to our donors for supporting the opportunities for these students to see, in person, and touch the remnants of some of the most dramatic eruptive events that took place in the Hawaiian Islands.