Exploring Hawaii Volcanoes National Park: Lua Manu Crater

by Donald B. MacGowan

Lava Flow through Lua Manu Crater wall, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park: Photo By Donald B MacGowan

There are many wondrous, enigmatic and fascinating attractions on the Big Island of Hawaii, some better known than others, many out of the way and generally off the beaten track. Tour Guide Hawaii has produced an encyclopedic collection of the most up-to-date information, presented as short GPS-cued videos, in an app downloadable to iPhone and iPod Touch that covers the entire Big Island, highlighting the popular and the uncrowded, the famous and the secluded, the adventurous and the relaxing.

Lua Manu

Lua Manu Crater, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park: Photo by Donald B MacGowan

Collapse craters (or “pit craters”) such as Lua Manu, and many others along the Chain of Craters Road, form primarily when lava drains out of chambers beneath the surface, causing the surface to collapse-in to fill the void. These craters are characterized by deep pits with no airfall debris on the rims, indicating a lack of eruptive or explosive events in their formation.

Most of the pit craters along Chain of Craters Road were formed before European-style written records were kept, but their formation is likely associated with the major subsidence episodes around 1790 that formed much of the modern Kilauea Crater seen today.

Lava flow into Lua Manu Crater, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park: Photo by Donnie MacGowan

Lua Manu is interesting in particular because it was partially filled by a small lava stream that flowed into it during the 1974 Kilauea eruption.

To see the new iPhone/iPod Touch App, please visit http://www.tourguidehawaii.com/iphone.html. The best of Tour Guide Hawaii’s free content about traveling to, and exploring, the Big island, can be found here.

The floor of Lua Manu Crater, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park: Photo by Donald B MacGowan

For more information on traveling to Hawaii in general and on touring the Big Island in particular, please also visit www.tourguidehawaii.com and www.tourguidehawaii.blogspot.com.

All media copyright 2010 by Donald B. MacGowan. All rights reserved.

Lua Manu Sign, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park: Photo by Donald B MacGowan