Kīlauea is considered as one of the most active volcano of the Universe. It is said to be the home to the goddess of volcanoes, Pele by locals of the Hawaiian religion. It is located inside the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and visited by tourists all the year round. It is the popular attraction of Hawaii Island and noted to be the most visited volcano in the globe. Kīlauea is declared as safe zone for researchers as well as visitors alike as the Kīlauea surface volcanic activity according the volcanologists is confined to only two vents, namely the Halemaumau in the caldera, summit and Puuoo, the rift zone in the east.
Kīlauea volcano of the Hawaiian Islands is a section of the five shield volcanoes which altogether form the Hawaii Island. Since 1983, the Puuoo cone is noticed to be erupting continuously and thus concluded as the longest rift-zone eruption in the last 200 years. Till date, about thirty-five eruptions were noted to occur since 1952. Today due to the entirely non-violent effusive activity of Mount Kīlauea, the vulcanologist can study closely the invaluable resource of the volcano.
Kīlauea is located at an elevation of 1,277 m above the sea level and stretched to an area of 1,430 sq km. The summit caldera of Kīlauea has the famous crater known as the Halemaumau where incessant lava-lake activities are noted. Kīlauea volcano is still in its young stage and lies in the southeastern part of the Big Island of Hawaii. As Kīlauea looked like a protuberance on the south east edge of Mauna Loa topographically, it was no considered as a separate volcano for many years. But research showed that a prominent magma-plumbing system is present in Kīlauea that elongate towards the surface of the earth from the depth of 60 km of the earth’s core.