LAVA HAZE LATEST THREAT
Hawaii volcano now spreading toxic gas
PAHOA, Hawaii — The eruption of Kilauea volcano in Hawaii sparked new safety warnings about toxic gas on the Big Island’s southern coastline after lava began flowing into the ocean and setting off a chemical reaction.
The molten rock started pouring into the sea over the weekend. It’s been generating plumes of lava haze or “laze” as it interacts with seawater.
It’s just the latest hazard from a weeks-old eruption that has so far generated earthquakes and featured gushing molten rock, giant ash plumes and sulfur dioxide. The eruption has destroyed more than 40 buildings forced more than 2,000 people to evacuate.
Authorities in Hawaii are also racing to close off production wells at a geothermal plant threatened by a lava flow.
Workers are capping the 11th and last well at the plant to prevent toxic gases from wafting out after lava entered, then stalled, on the property near one of the new volcanic vents.
Puna Geothermal, owned by Nevada’s Ormat Technologies, was shut down earlier this month shortly after Kilauea began spewing lava on May 3.
Officials there removed 50,000 gallons of stored flammable gas from the plant to reduce the chance of explosions.
There has been continuous low-level ash emission from Kilauea’s summit with larger explosions every few hours, said U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist Mike Poland. Two small eruptions happened late Monday afternoon and early yesterday, producing ash clouds that did not reach the 10,000-foot level.
Here are key things to know about the latest volcanic threat:
Lava haze is made of dense white clouds of steam, toxic gas and tiny shards of volcanic glass. Janet Babb, a geologist with the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, says the plume “looks innocuous, but it’s not.”
Laze is formed when lava enters the ocean and triggers a series of chemical reactions.
The seawater cools the lava, which forms a glass that shatters. Tiny pieces are picked up by the steam cloud, which contains hydrochloric acid that also is created by the interaction of lava and the ocean.
“Just like if you drop a glass on your kitchen floor, there’s some large pieces and there are some very, very tiny pieces,” Babb said. “These little tiny pieces are the ones that can get wafted up in that steam plume.”
Scientists call the glass Limu O Pele, or Pele’s seaweed, named after the Hawaiian goddess of volcano and fire.
The clouds contain hydrochloric acid, which is about as corrosive as diluted battery acid. It can irritate the skin and eyes and cause breathing problems.
Babb says protective masks that officials have been distributing to protect people from volcanic ash will filter particles from lava haze but not the hydrochloric acid.