What Were the Consequences of the Mauna Loa Volcano?

Big Island

• The most significant consequence of the Mauna Loa volcano is the size and shape of the big island of Hawaii. The volcano created approximately 50 percent of the island. Polynesian settlers eventually colonized the land that the eruption of Mauna Loa created, becoming the original Hawaiians.

Movement

• Another consequence of the Mauna Loa volcano is that it created a moving mountain. It also created a mystery. Scientists do not know why it moves, but move it does. Every once in a while, Mauna Loa shifts a little to the south. When it does so, it shoves its sister volcano, Kilauea, ahead of it, although Kilauea does move on its own as well. This volcanic movement creates fault lines and generates earthquakes.

Debris

• The pressures that hinder Mauna Loa's movement, such as the presence of the neighboring Kilauea, have caused parts of its slope to periodically break off and fall into the sea. This has resulted in a spill of giant volcanic rocks and other debris stretching more than 50 miles away from the island. If you were to take out a boat to the furthest of these deposits, you would be so far away that you couldn't even see the volcano from which they came.

Eruptions

• Mauna Loa did not spend all of its volcanic energy in the eruption that created most of the big island. It has erupted 39 times just since 1832, when recordkeeping began. Five of these eruptions released enough lava to reach all the way to the sea, although many eruptions are confined to activity at the summit.

Fast Lava

• The volcano produces lava with high fluidity, meaning that it is very "runny." This results in very fast flows of lava during eruptions, especially on steep parts of the volcano's slopes. This poses a higher risk to people living on the lower slopes of the volcano.

Tropical Rainforest

• The lava on the lower slopes of the volcano has caused a tropical rainforest to arise there. As lava ages it breaks down into sand and soil, like any other type of rock. The ages and types of lava flow on Mauna Loa produced favorable conditions to support such a forest.