A virtual walk through Kīlauea Volcano’s summit history: Part 2

Join USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientist emeritus Don Swanson on a virtual walk, during which you learn about the past 500 years of Kīlauea Volcano’s history as revealed by rocks, craters, and cracks.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

This virtual walk will be released in three parts, covering different sections of the Keanakākoʻi Crater trail. Along the walk, Don points out and explains some of the features that formed during the 2018 summit collapse events, as well as the best publicly accessible display of explosive deposits erupted from Kīlauea around 230–370 years ago, one of which probably relates to an important oral tradition. Don also shows two contrasting vents for the July 1974 eruption, highlights the thick deposit of pumice and scoria erupted in 1959, and ponders the origin of Keanakākoʻi Crater.

You can visit the Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park website to learn about walking the 2-mile round-trip Keanakākoʻi Crater trail, which begins at the Devastation Trail parking lot on Crater Rim Drive in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park.