Mount Kilauea.

Have you ever heard of Mount Kilauea.  Well let me give you some facts Kilauea is one of the most active volcanos in the world.  What kind of volcano is it?  It is a shield volocano.  The volcano rises 4,190 feet (1,227 meters)  above sea level and is14 percent of the land area of the big island.  Mount Kilauea is the youngest volcano in Hawaiis big island.The volcano has been present in many Polynesian legends and it has been almost constantly active since the first recorded eruption which occurred around the year 1750. Most of the volcanic activity at Kilauea between 1750 and 1924 was smaller and originated in the lava lake found at the summit.  Impressively enough, the current eruption of the Kilauea Volcano, named Pu’u O’o started 30 years ago! It began on January 3, 1983 at which point ground fissures opened and thin streams of molten lava appeared from a 7 kilometer long fissure.   The first hotels appeared around the rim of the Kilauea Volcano in the 1840s. After the area became a National Park in 1916, tourism continued to increase greatly. Today around 2.6 million tourists visit the volcano and surrounding areas each year, mostly due to its location in beautiful Hawaii combined with its active yet docile nature.  The last eruption of Mount Kilauea  was in January 3 1983.