Mauna Loa Research Paper

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On the beautiful, tropical island of Hawaii, a structure that is not only large, but also deadly and packed with heat, is called the Mauna Loa. In the native Hawaiian language, "Mauna Loa" means “long mountain” and it has definitely earned that name. It is a volcano that towers over Hawaii and is the biggest volcanic structure in the world. This structure is also the most active volcano and mountain in the world. It is located in the south central area of the small island, Hawaii in the United States which is also located on the North Pacific Ocean. The Mauna Loa is one of the five volcanoes which forms the island of Hawaii. The other volcanoes located on the island state are the Kohala, Mauna Kea, Hualalai and Kilauea. Among all of these natural cliffs, Mauna Loa is by far the biggest. It covers a large area of the island, not to mention rises about 13.680 feet above sea level. There is much to learn about this unique volcanic specimen.
Firstly, in order to understand the Mauna Loa, one must know the type of volcano it is. The Mauna Loa is a shield volcano, with wide moderate sloping sides. Shield volcanoes are created when lava emerges out from fissures in …show more content…

In theory, the Mauna Loa could have been erupting for 100,000 years. Mauna Loa is second youngest of the five of volcano on the Island of Hawaii. It began erupting about 700,000 to 1,000,000 year ago. It is one of the five volcanoes that was created as plates in the ocean moved over the Hawaii hotspot in the Earth’s underlying mantle. From the past, Mauna Loa had begun as a submarine volcano, growing underwater until it finally surfaced and created a great part of the land of Hawaii. The first sighting of the eruption of the Mauna Loa was said to be in 1780. It has erupted many times since then. The latest eruption was in 1984. The United States Geological Survey determined that the volcano has erupted on an average of every six

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