Volcano Watch — Words matter: lava, not fire, but island or raft or basalt berg?

Volcano Watch is a weekly article and activity update written by U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists and affiliates.

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The terminology of volcanology labors under the burden of past misunderstandings about volcanoes. Ancients believed that volcanoes were somehow related to fire. Fire caused eruptions, and volcanoes erupted fire. Fire raged underground, managed by the Roman god Vulcan (Hephaestus is the Greek equivalent), and volcanoes were formed at Vulcan’s forge.

Many terms we use today reflect the ancient misunderstandings. Igneous, a scientific term used for one of the three broad families of rocks (sedimentary and metamorphic are the other two) derives from the Latin word for fire, ignis. Volcano comes from Vulcan. Fire produces ash, scoria, and cinder, but all three terms are used by volcanologists for particles erupted from volcanoes that have nothing to do with fire. These old words are a bit quaint and even charming, but their long-term usage makes them permissible among volcanologists.

All this is fine. Words have to derive from something. A problem comes in, though, if scientists use fire terms as metaphors when dealing with the public. Perhaps the best, or worst, examples of misleading phrases are fire fountain, curtain of fire, and river of fire. Colorful metaphors, to be sure, but just plain wrong. Fire neither fountains nor flows nor forms curtains. Sadly, fire fountain and curtain of fire are terms still used by some volcanologists, though they are slipping away. Lava fountain, line or row of lava fountains, and river of lava, respectively, are the preferred terms in discussion with the public as well as among ourselves.

Fire makes smoke. Volcanoes don’t burn, so they don’t smoke. Instead, fume or gas rises above them. This is an easy distinction to make in Hawaiʻi, because residents are all too familiar with vog (volcanic air pollution), which smells nothing like smoke. Of course, heat from volcanoes can set fires that smoke, and flames from hot gas burning in air can sometimes decorate vents.

Fiery is a word that is often applied to a volcanic scene. It means “consisting of fire or burning strongly and brightly” and so is inappropriately used for an eruption. This word is so widely used, however, that volcanologists are unlikely to win the semantic argument.

Other examples of questionable word usage for volcanoes do not involve the fire metaphor. What happens when some things just don’t have a word to accurately describe them? Do we stretch the meaning of an existing word or come up with something new?

Examples of this problem are the masses of solid material floating in the current lava lake in Halemaʻumaʻu at Kīlauea’s summit. These things moved slowly around in the lake and rose as the lake deepened. The masses are therefore not islands, which are stationary relative to their surroundings. USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) volcanologists 100 years ago used the phrase ‘floating islands’ for such features, an expressive but inaccurate phrase.

HVO used the word “island” to describe these drifting masses in Halema‘uma‘u’s current lava lake, though raft may be a better term to acknowledge their mobility. A raft, however, is usually perceived as a floating mass having a shallow draft, but for various reasons we suspect (admittedly with little confidence) that the largest current island/raft has a relatively deep draft reflecting a sluggish foundation.

A colleague at the Smithsonian Institution suggested, only half in jest, that the floating masses be termed ‘basalt bergs’ by analogy with ice bergs, which are mostly submerged. Floating islands, rafts, basalt bergs, or something else—only time will tell what name finally sticks.

In Lewis Carroll’s ‘Through the Looking Glass,’ Humpty Dumpty tells Alice scornfully “When I use a word…it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” Laudable, as long as he chooses the right meaning! That is the problem we volcanologists face when telling and educating the public: how to choose the right word with the right meaning and do it accurately. In this sense, as in so many others, words matter.

Volcano Activity Updates  

Kīlauea Volcano is erupting. Its USGS Volcano Alert level is at WATCH (https://www.usgs.gov/natural-hazards/volcano-hazards/about-alert-levels). Kīlauea updates are issued daily.   

Lava activity is confined to Halemaʻumaʻu with lava erupting from a vent on the northwest side of the crater. As of the morning of January 28 lava has filled about 208 m (684 ft) of Halemaʻumaʻu and only the western portion of the lava lake is active. Sulfur dioxide emission rate measurements made on January 23 were about 2,200 t/d, below the range of emission rates from the pre-2018 lava lake. Summit tiltmeters are on an inflationary trend. Seismicity remains elevated but stable, with steady elevated tremor and a few minor earthquakes. For the most current information on the eruption, see https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/current-eruption.

Mauna Loa is not erupting and remains at Volcano Alert Level ADVISORY. This alert level does not mean that an eruption is imminent or that progression to eruption from current level of unrest is certain. Mauna Loa updates are issued weekly.    

This past week, about 60 small-magnitude earthquakes were recorded beneath the upper-elevations of Mauna Loa; most of these occurred at depths of less than 8 kilometers (about 5 miles). The largest recorded earthquake was a M2.6, just southwest of the summit caldera, on January 24, at 10:39 a.m. HST. Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements show continued slow summit inflation, consistent with magma supply to the volcano’s shallow storage system. Gas concentration at the Sulphur Cone monitoring site remain stable (below 2 ppm SO2). Fumarole temperature was approximately 90 degrees Celsius (194 degrees Fahrenheit). This value is in the normal range. Webcams show no changes to the landscape. For more information on current monitoring of Mauna Loa Volcano, see: https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/mauna-loa/monitoring.  

There was 1 event with 3 or more felt reports in the Hawaiian Islands during the past week: a M2.5 earthquake 40 km (24 mi) W of Kailua-Kona at 33 km (21 mi) depth on Jan. 22 at 1:41 a.m. HST.

HVO continues to closely monitor both Kīlauea’s ongoing eruption and Mauna Loa for any signs of increased activity.   

Please visit HVO’s website for past Volcano Watch articles, Kīlauea and Mauna Loa updates, volcano photos, maps, recent earthquake info, and more. Email questions to askHVO@usgs.gov.   

Volcano Watch is a weekly article and activity update written by U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists and affiliates.