Rift zone

Rift zone

A rift zone is a feature of some volcanoes, especially the shield volcanoes of Hawaii, in which a linear series of fissures in the volcanic edifice allows lava to be erupted from the volcano's flank instead of from its summit. For example, in the currently ongoing eruption of Kilauea lava is emitted continuously from the Puokinau okinaŌokinaō vent located in Kilauea's East Rift Zone roughly 15 km east of Kilauea Crater. Rift zones tend to extend for tens of kilometers radially outward from the volcanic summit; most Hawaiian volcanoes have two or sometimes three of them. The accumulated lava of repeated eruptions from rift zones causes many Hawaiian volcanoes to have an elongated shape. Perhaps the best example of this is Mauna Loa, which in Hawaiian means "long mountain".

The reason lava often erupts from the flanks of Hawaiian volcanoes is gravity: it is easier for liquid lava, which is heavy, to flow laterally out the sides of a mountain than to be pushed up an additional several hundred or several thousand meters in elevation to be erupted from the summit. These systems of fissures that make up a rift zone allow this to happen more easily.

ee also

* Newberry Volcano


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  • rift zone — USGS PHOTO GLOSSARY OF VOLCANIC TERMS A rift zone is an elongate system of crustal fractures associated with an area that has undergone extension (ground has spread apart). On the great shield volcanoes in Hawai i, a rift zone consists of many… …   Glossary of volcanic terms

  • rift zone — Geol. a system of related, narrow structural depressions between parallel faults. [1965 70] * * * rift zone, Geology. a large area of the earth in which a rift occurs when plates of the earth s crust move away from one another …   Useful english dictionary

  • rift zone — Geol. a system of related, narrow structural depressions between parallel faults. [1965 70] * * * …   Universalium

  • Baikal Rift Zone — [ USGS factsheet] The Baikal Rift Zone is a divergent plate boundary centered beneath Lake Baikal in southeastern Russia. To its west is the Eurasian Plate and to its east is the Amur Plate which is moving away from the rift toward Japan at about …   Wikipedia

  • Rift — Chasm redirects here. For other uses, see Chasm (disambiguation). For other uses, see Rift (disambiguation). USGS image Plates in the crust of the earth, accordin …   Wikipedia

  • Rift Valley lakes — The Rift Valley lakes are a group of lakes in the Great Rift Valley formed by the East African Rift which runs through the whole eastern side of the African continent from north to south. These lakes include some of the oldest, largest and… …   Wikipedia

  • Rift valley — A rift valley is a linear shaped lowland between highlands or mountain ranges created by the action of a geologic rift or fault. This action is manifest as crustal extension, a spreading apart of the surface which is subsequently further deepened …   Wikipedia

  • Rift lake — A rift lake is a lake formed as a result of subsidence related to movement on faults within a rift zone, an area of extensional tectonics in the continental crust. They are often found within rift valleys and may be very deep. Rift lakes may be… …   Wikipedia

  • rift — [ rift ] n. m. • 1942; mot angl., abrév. de rift valley « fossé d effondrement » ♦ Géogr. Fossé tectonique long de plusieurs centaines ou de plusieurs milliers de kilomètres, correspondant à une zone de fracture de l écorce terrestre. Les grands… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • RIFT — Entwickler Trion Wor …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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