On May 24, 1969, a deep rumble occurred at Kīlauea, the largest volcano on the Island of Hawaii. These were the first moments of the historic Maunaulu eruption, and the longest Kīlauea eruption in at least two millennia.
Hawaiian Volcano Observatory staff have noted that the magma reservoir beneath the tip of the volcano is starting to swell, but they still don't expect the extraordinary activity to last until the summer of 1974.
So massive was the eruption that the cooling lava created a new landscape on the Kīlauea side. Hence, this new landscape of cooling lava is Maunaulu which means a growing mountain.
Quoted from Science Alert, in 1969 alone, twelve large lava fountains erupted at the site, and most of this activity has been beautifully captured.
In 2018, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) alerted the world to the Maunaulu eruption by displaying an old photo of one of the rarest "lava fountains" we've ever seen:
Usually, the lava just explodes, making this beautiful round dome fountain even more special.
This is another version of the photo, taken on October 11, 1969. The original tweet noted it was about 20 meters high, but according to USGS records, at some points the fountain may have risen to 75 meters:
Lava fountains, in all their explosive geological splendor, can reach a height of 500 meters, according to the USGS. They usually occur when lava gushes out of an isolated vent or fissure in a volcano, or when water in a confined space enters a lava tube.
On June 25 of the same year, a giant 220 meter high fountain of lava erupted from the volcano as seen in the photo below:
Then August 15, 1969, there was a small splash of boiling hot rock, "only" 8 meters high, but shaped like a mushroom cloud. At the time of an eruption, this kind of activity almost always occurs on Maunaulu:
One of the most spectacular events during the eruption was a 100-meter-high "lava waterfall" that flooded the Alae Crater in Kīlauea, on August 5, 1969.
"For the two experienced observers who witnessed this astonishing event, none could match it during the Maunaulu eruption," the USGS wrote on their website.
Even after that miraculous event, Kīlauea still hadn't finished wowing her bystanders. Another large lava fountain rose into the air on October 20, and in this photo we can even see a geologist standing at the lookout some 800 meters away.
Even though the distance was quite far, observers still had to hide behind the stone walls because the heat was intense. Sometimes, the dry grass right next to the lookout will even catch fire.
Of course, Kīlauea hardly ever rested. Just nine years after Maunaulu ceased, in 1983, the Pu'u'ō'ō eruption began, producing regular bursts of lava. Far beyond its predecessors, the event lasted until April 30, 2018, when the crater floor and lava lake collapsed violently.
Interestingly, Kīlauea is not even a volcano with the longest and continuous active eruption in the world. According to Guinness World Records, this title belongs to Mount Stromboli in Italy whose eruptions have been going on since at least the 7th century BC.
