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KILAUEA VOLCANO
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HAWAII, LAND OF SUN, FUN, BIG SURF, AND TEENY BIKINIS.
BUT THESE MAGICAL ISLANDS LITERALLY ROSE UP OUT OF THE VAST BLUE OCEAN WITH THE HELP OF BIG, BAD, EXPLOSIVE VOLCANOES.
The process that we're seeing here is really the process of land building that started 4.5 billion years ago years ago on our planet. This is primitive molten rock coming up from the earth's interior.
PRIMITIVE BUT POWERFUL AND THE MOST TEMPERAMENTAL OF THEM ALL TODAY IS CALLED THE KILAUEA VOLCANO .
VOLCANOLOGIST KEN HON, HAS STUDIED THIS VOLATILE VOLCANO SINCE IT BEGAN ERUPTING IN 1983, AND HE SEES NO END IN SIGHT TO ITS FIREY EXPANSION.
Kilauea is unique among the world's volcanoes in that it's not only one of the most active volcanoes in the world, but it puts out, probably, the highest volume per year of lava of any volcano on the planet.
ON AVERAGE, OVER A THOUSAND GALLONS OF LAVA COME STREAMING, GUSHING OR OOZING OUT OF KILAUEA EVERY SECOND, OF EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR.
KILAUEA RISES JUST OVER 4,000 FEET ABOVE SEA LEVEL, WHICH IS TALLER THAN FOUR EIFFEL TOWERS STACKED ON TOP OF EACH OTHER. BUT, THERE'S A LOT MORE DEPTH TO KILAUEA THAN MEETS THE EYE.
The impressive thing about Kilauea is what we don't see of it, and there's about another 18,000 feet of this volcano that goes down below sea level to the ocean floor. So it's really among one of the largest volcanoes in the world as well.
IT'S ALSO ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL. WITH TEMPERATURES HOT ENOUGH TO MELT ROCK AT OVER 1,500 DEGREES KILAUEA HAS THE POWER TO DO SOME PRETTY SERIOUS DAMAGE.
It's very very destructive to things that already exist on the Island of Hawaii, such as trees, wildlife, buildings anything in the path of this lava will be completely destroyed. Partly because it gets run over by the lava, but most importantly because it's so hot that it sets everything in it's path on fire.
It's completely unpredictable and uncontrollable. There's nothing you can do about its advance so it can be very deadly to people that live in its path.
BUT AMAZINGLY, OUT OF KILAUEA'S DESTRUCTION COMES CREATION.
What looks like a process of destruction to us as human beings is really the process of island building and growth.
AND WHILE THE RICH VOLCANIC SOIL GENERATES NEW PLANT LIFE, THE LAVA OOZING INTO THE PACIFIC ALSO CONTINUES TO BUILD THE ISLAND. AND TO THINK THAT ALL OF THIS EARTHLY DEVASTATION AND CREATION IS THE RESULT OF SOME PRETTY EXPLOSIVE MYTHOLOGY.HAWAIIAN NATIVE TERRY RIVEIRA KNOWS THE LEGEND.
Pele is our goddess of our volcanoes and takes care of these fires of the volcanoes. She had an older sister who took care of the oceans…
AND EVERYDAY A POWERFUL CLASH BETWEEN THE GODDESS OF WATER AND THE GODDESS OF FIRE CAN BE SEEN AS KILAUEA'S LAVA FLOWS INTO THE OCEAN.
The high found eruptions of Kilauea were some of the most amazing things I've seen in my life. Fountains going up in the air a thousand, 1,500 feet even more. These booms are so loud and the tremendous explosions going up in the air are just so spectacular it takes your breath away.
THE LAVA RELEASED IN A MAJOR ERUPTION CREATES SEARING FLOWS THAT STRETCHES FOR MILES.
Standing close to a river of lava is really unparalleled in any experience I've ever had. It's this feeling of being alive. Of being close to the earth itself, of feeling the life energy of the planet. Kilauea is a natural wonder 'cause it's a place where you can see active eruption taking place, new land being formed. And you can hear actually. You can hear the flows as they're coming up and the surface cools, it crackles. You can actually approach this volcano, and watch its grandeur and its beauty without getting killed. And that's, that's unusual.
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基拉韦厄火山
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夏威夷 一个充满阳光 海滩 冲浪以及“比基尼女郎”的地方。然而，这些神奇的岛屿却是由极具摧毁力的火山喷发形成的。
我们现在看到的这个过程实际上就是45亿年前开始的地球造山运动。它是来自地球内部的初期熔岩虽然是早期熔岩，但同样猛烈无比。
如今，最变幻无常的火山被称作基拉韦厄火山。自1983年它开始喷发以来火山专家肯·宏一直对这座反复无常的火山进行研究。他看到，这座火山从未停止过喷发。在世界众多火山中，基拉韦厄火山是非常独特的。它不仅是世界上最活跃的火山之一，而且它每年喷出的熔岩也是地球上所有火山中最多的。
基拉韦厄火山无时无刻不在活动，它平均每秒钟会喷溢出1000多加仑的熔岩。基拉韦厄火山的海拔高度超过4000英尺，比4个叠加的艾菲尔铁塔还要高。但在滚烫的熔岩下面，那里的深度更是无法测定。基拉韦厄火山引人注目的是，我们无法看到火山的全部—它在海平面以下还有18000英尺。因此，它确实是世界上最为庞大的火山之一。
它同样也是最强有力的火山之一，熔岩的温度可高达1500度以上，足以熔化岩石。基拉韦厄火山能给人类带来巨大灾害。它对夏威夷岛上的任何东西可产生难以想象的破坏，如树木 野生动物 建筑物。火山熔岩所经过的任何事物都将被彻底毁灭。这不仅是由于熔岩的吞噬，最主要的还在于熔岩的温度很高。它能沿途引起大火，它完全出人意料，而且无法控制，你会变得束手无策。对于居住在火山附近的人们来说，那将是致命的。
然而 令人不可思议的是，基拉韦厄火山在造成破坏的同时也创造了奇丽的景观。对我们人类来说，这种破坏过程实际上也是岛屿形成与增长的过程。
肥沃的火山土养育了新的植物，而不断涌入太平洋的熔岩也不断建造着新的岛屿。地球的地貌正是在这种既有破坏，又有创造的神话般爆发中形成的。
土生土长的夏威夷人特丽·瑞芙蕾对此深有感触。派丽是我们的火山女神，她负责掌管喷薄而出的火焰。她有一个负责掌管海洋的姐姐。每天，在海神与火神的激烈冲突中基拉韦厄火山的熔岩浩浩荡荡流入海洋。
在过去的20年间，基拉韦厄火山喷发了55次。基拉韦厄火山喷发是我一生中见过的最壮观的情景之一。喷薄而出的火山岩浆直冲天宇高度达到1500多英尺，伴随着阵阵轰鸣声向空中喷射的岩浆构成惊心动魄的奇景。一次较大规模的火山喷发可以形成绵延数英里的熔岩流。站在火山熔岩流旁边，我会感到一种难以言表的激动—那是一种生的感觉；一种与地球贴近的感觉。我深切地体验到了地球所蕴涵的伟大能量。基拉韦厄火山是一种自然奇观，在这里，你可以看到火山喷发新大陆形成，而且你也能亲耳聆听到它所发出的阵阵轰鸣以及表面冷却的声音
身临其境地感受。火山喷发的壮丽景象是一种非同寻常的经历，它令你流连忘返！
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