The Eruptive History of Kīlauea

Kīlauea, located on the southeastern slope of the Big Island of Hawaii, is one of the most active volcanoes on Earth. For centuries, it has been a focal point of Hawaiian culture and, more recently, a living laboratory for volcanologists.

For 35 years, Kīlauea was in a near-constant state of eruption from the Puʻuʻōʻō vent on its East Rift Zone. This historic eruption produced vast amounts of lava that flowed into the ocean, creating new land but also destroying communities like Kalapana. It was one of the longest continuous eruptions in modern history and provided scientists with unprecedented opportunities to study magma transport.

In 2018, the eruptive pattern drastically changed. The magma system beneath Puʻuʻōʻō collapsed, and magma intruded further down the rift zone into the Leilani Estates neighborhood. This event was highly destructive, with massive lava fountains and fast-moving flows that destroyed hundreds of homes. Concurrently, the summit caldera experienced severe subsidence and thousands of earthquakes as the magma chamber drained.

Following the dramatic events of 2018, Kīlauea entered a period of quiet. However, this was short-lived. In December 2020, lava returned to the Halemaʻumaʻu summit crater, boiling off a water lake that had formed and replacing it with a massive lava lake. Since then, Kīlauea has experienced several start-and-stop eruptions entirely confined within the summit caldera. These recent eruptions pose no direct threat to communities, but they are spectacular displays of geological power.

Monitoring Kīlauea's rapid shifts from quiet to active is a primary mission of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. MagmaAlert brings these real-time shifts directly to your dashboard.