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Hazard Zones for Lava Flows on the Island of Hawai`i |
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Hazard zones from lava flows on the Island of Hawai`i are based chiefly on the location and frequency of historic and prehistoric eruptions and the topography of the volcanoes. Scientists have prepared a map that divides the five volcanoes of the Island of Hawai`i into zones that are ranked from 1 through 9 based on the relative likelihood of coverage by lava flows. |
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| Zone | Percentage of area covered by lava since 1800 | Percentage of area covered by lava in last 750 years | Explanation |
| 1 | greater than 25 | greater than 65 | Includes the summits and rift zones of Kilauea and Mauna Loa where vents have been repeatedly active in historic time. |
| 2 | 15-25 | 25-75 | Areas adjacent to and downslope of active rift zones. |
| 3 | 1-5 | 15-75 | Areas gradationally less hazardous than Zone 2 because of greater distance from recently active vents and/or because the topography makes it less likely that flows will cover these areas. |
| 4 | about 5 | less than 15 | Includes all of Hualalai, where the frequency of eruptions is lower than on Kilauea and Mauna Loa. Flows typically cover large areas. |
| 5 | none | about 50 | Areas currently protected from lava flows by the topography of the volcano. |
| 6 | none | very little | Same as Zone 5. |
| 7 | none | none | 20 percent of this area covered by lava in the last 10,000 yrs. |
| 8 | none | none | Only a few percent of this area covered in the past 10,000 yrs. |
| 9 | none | none | No eruption in this area for the past 60,000 yrs. |
| Reference Wright, T.L., Chu, J.Y., Esposo, J., Heliker, C., Hodge, J., Lockwood, J.P., and Vogt, S.M., 1992, Map showing lava-flow hazard zones, island of Hawaii: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-2193, scale 1:250,000. |
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