Kilauea's Lava Is Now Spilling Into the Ocean. Here's Why That's Dangerous
By —
Nsikan Akpan/ Science/ PBS News Hour/ pbs.org
"Late Saturday, Kilauea’s lava
oozed into the Pacific Ocean for the first time since the volcano began erupting on May 4. The resulting cloud prompted the U.S. Geological Survey to issue a warning for “laze,” better known as “lava haze” — the dense white plume created when the molten rock meets water. This violent collision emits a mixture of glass shards and a corrosive substance on par with battery acid, to the peril of anyone downwind.
As bad as it sounds, this poisonous haze may not be the most dangerous part of lava sliding into the ocean. The PBS NewsHour spoke with a pair of scientists about the hazards that Kilauea might pose before it finishes erupting.
Glass cement for your lungs
If you could stare into the milky plume of Kilaeua’s laze, you would see lava cooling very quickly into clear glass.
“When you pick up a chunk of lava in Hawaii, it has this almost iridescent glassy sheen to it because it’s cooled into a volcanic glass. There are no crystals in it,” said
Erik Klemetti, a volcanologist at Denison University in Ohio.
But the combination of hot rock and water also produces steam, which has enough force to instantly shatter the lava-based glass into miniscule shards.
Klemetti said people see these glass shards all the time, even if they don’t realize it — the shards are the main component of volcanic ash. They’re smaller than grains of sand, he said, but if you look at them under a microscope, their edges are shaped into cusps or crescents...."
Richard