Where is the largest active volcano in the world?
Rising gradually to more than 4 km above sea level, Hawaii’s Mauna Loa is the largest volcano on our planet. Its submarine flanks descend to the sea floor an additional 5 km (3 mi), and the sea floor in turn is depressed by Mauna Loa's great mass another 8 km (5 mi). This makes the volcano's summit about 17 km (10.5 mi) above its base!
Related Content
Which volcanic eruptions were the deadliest?
How big are the Hawaiian volcanoes?
How hot is a Hawaiian volcano?
What was the largest volcanic eruption in the 20th century?
Where does the United States rank in the number of volcanoes?
What was the most destructive volcanic eruption in the history of the United States?
What are some examples of supervolcanoes?
What are some benefits of volcanic eruptions?
Living with volcano hazards
Volcanic eruptions are among Earth’s most dramatic and powerful agents of change. Ash, mudflows, and lava flows can devastate communities near volcanoes and cause havoc in areas far downwind, downstream, and downslope. Even when a volcano is quiet, steep volcanic slopes can collapse to become landslides, and large rocks can be hurled by powerful...
Stovall, Wendy K.; Driedger, Carolyn L.; Westby, Elizabeth G.; Faust, Lisa M.
2018 update to the U.S. Geological Survey national volcanic threat assessment
When erupting, all volcanoes pose a degree of risk to people and infrastructure, however, the risks are not equivalent from one volcano to another because of differences in eruptive style and geographic location. Assessing the relative threats posed by U.S. volcanoes identifies which volcanoes warrant the greatest risk-mitigation efforts by the U....
Ewert, John W.; Diefenbach, Angela K.; Ramsey, David W.
Characteristics of Hawaiian volcanoes
Founded in 1912 at the edge of the caldera of Kīlauea Volcano, HVO was the vision of Thomas A. Jaggar, Jr., a geologist from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, whose studies of natural disasters around the world had convinced him that systematic, continuous observations of seismic and volcanic activity were needed to better understand—and...
Poland, Michael P.; Takahashi, T. Jane; Landowski, Claire M.
Mauna Loa--history, hazards and risk of living with the world's largest volcano
Mauna Loa on the Island Hawaiʻi is the world’s largest volcano. People residing on its flanks face many hazards that come with living on or near an active volcano, including lava flows, explosive eruptions, volcanic smog, damaging earthquakes, and local tsunami (giant seawaves). The County of Hawaiʻi (Island of Hawaiʻi) is the...
Trusdell, Frank A.
Eruptions of Hawaiian volcanoes - Past, present, and future
Viewing an erupting volcano is a memorable experience, one that has inspired fear, superstition, worship, curiosity, and fascination since before the dawn of civilization. In modern times, volcanic phenomena have attracted intense scientific interest, because they provide the key to understanding processes that have created and shaped more than 80...
Tilling, Robert I.; Heliker, Christina; Swanson, Donald A.
Hawaii's volcanoes revealed
Hawaiian volcanoes typically evolve in four stages as volcanism waxes and wanes: (1) early alkalic, when volcanism originates on the deep sea floor; (2) shield, when roughly 95 percent of a volcano's volume is emplaced; (3) post-shield alkalic, when small-volume eruptions build scattered cones that thinly cap the shield-stage lavas; and (4)...
Eakins, Barry W.; Robinson, Joel E.; Kanamatsu, Toshiya; Naka, Jiro; Smith, John R.; Takahashi, Eiichi; Clague, David A. Map showing lava inundation zones for Mauna Loa, Hawai'i
The Island of Hawai‘i is composed of five coalesced basaltic volcanoes. Lava flows constitute the greatest volcanic hazard from these volcanoes. This report is concerned with lava flow hazards on Mauna Loa, the largest of the island shield volcanoes. Hilo lies 58 km from the summit of Mauna Loa, the Kona coast 33 km, and the southernmost point of...
Trusdell, F.A.; Graves, P.; Tincher, C.R.
EarthView–Kilauea, Mauna Loa Volcanoes Shape the Face of Hawaii
3 Satellites, 2 Volcanoes, 1 Stunning Series: This Week's EarthView!
LANDSAT Mosaic of Kilauea and Mauna Loa Volcanoes on Hawaii
Landsat Mosaic of Kilauea and Mauna Loa Volcanoes on Hawaii.
Aerial View of Mauna Loa Volcano, Hawaii
USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists monitor Mauna Loa, the largest active volcano on Earth. In this 1985 aerial photo, Mauna Loa looms above Kīlauea Volcano’s summit caldera (left center) and nearly obscures Hualālai in the far distance (upper right).
Lava flows on Mauna Loa
Erupting vents on Mauna Loa’s northeast rift zone near Pu‘u‘ula‘ula (Red Hill) on Mar. 25, 1984, sent massive ‘a‘ā lava flows down the rift toward Kūlani.
Mauna Loa Volcano Hawaii -- 1930s Eruption (Part 5 of 5)
Part 5 of 5
Remarkable silent film, 16mm Kodachrome movie film. Probably the first color film ever made of a volcanic eruption. Mokuaweoweo Crater eruption filmed probably in late 1935 by Harold T. Stearns, a USGS Hydrologist-Volcanologist. The lava fountains are hundreds of feet high, the erupting fissure inside the crater is about two thousand feet long. The
...
Mauna Loa Volcano Hawaii -- 1930s Eruption (Part 4 of 5)
Part 4 of 5
Remarkable silent film, 16mm Kodachrome movie film. Probably the first color film ever made of a volcanic eruption. Mokuaweoweo Crater eruption filmed probably in late 1935 by Harold T. Stearns, a USGS Hydrologist-Volcanologist. The lava fountains are hundreds of feet high, the erupting fissure inside the crater is about two thousand feet long. The
...
Mauna Loa Volcano Hawaii -- 1930s Eruption (Part 3 of 5)
Part 3 of 5
Remarkable silent film, 16mm Kodachrome movie film. Probably the first color film ever made of a volcanic eruption. Mokuaweoweo Crater eruption filmed probably in late 1935 by Harold T. Stearns, a USGS Hydrologist-Volcanologist. The lava fountains are hundreds of feet high, the erupting fissure inside the crater is about two thousand feet long. The
...
Mauna Loa Volcano Hawaii -- 1930s Eruption (Part 2 of 5)
Part 2 of 5
Remarkable silent film, 16mm Kodachrome movie film. Probably the first color film ever made of a volcanic eruption. Mokuaweoweo Crater eruption filmed probably in late 1935 by Harold T. Stearns, a USGS Hydrologist-Volcanologist. The lava fountains are hundreds of feet high, the erupting fissure inside the crater is about two thousand feet long. The
...
Mauna Loa Volcano Hawaii -- 1930s Eruption (Part 1 of 5)
Part 1 of 5
Remarkable silent film, 16mm Kodachrome movie film. Probably the first color film ever made of a volcanic eruption. Mokuaweoweo Crater eruption filmed probably in late 1935 by Harold T. Stearns, a USGS Hydrologist-Volcanologist. The lava fountains are hundreds of feet high, the erupting fissure inside the crater is about two thousand feet long. The
...