‘Pyroducts’
‘Pyroducts’
The terms used by the Tribune-Herald, the public, and even some volcanologists to describe the supply systems that feed the current Kilauea pahoehoe lava flows need to be clarified.
Long pahoehoe flows here and elsewhere in the world are fed by subsurface conduits that have been called many things over the years, including “tunnels,” “pipes” and “tubes,” but these terms are misleading and inappropriate.
“Tunnels” are man-made structures, “pipes” contain fluids under pressure, and the currently popular term, “tube,” is the worst of all. “Tubes” are tubular in shape, but pahoehoe conduits are rarely tubular, and come in every shape — from deep slots to wide, multi-level channel-ways.
These conduits commonly form complex networks of interconnected, non-tubular pathways that can underlie wide areas of active pahoehoe flows, especially on gentle slopes such as those above Pahoa.
The best term to describe these subsurface conduits was coined by Hilo’s own Rev. Titus Coan (founder of the Haili Church) in 1843, when he hiked to the source of an eruption on the slopes of Mauna Loa, high above Hilo.
He published his observations in 1844, and wrote: “At a depth of 50 feet, we saw a vast tunnel or subterranean canal, lined with smooth vitreous matter, and forming the channel of a river of fire, which swept down the mountain with amazing velocity. The site of this covered aqueduct or, if I may be allowed to coin a word, this pyroduct — filled with mineral fusion, and flowing under our feet at twenty miles an hour, was truly startling. We gazed upon the scene with a kind of ecstasy, knowing that we had been traveling for hours over this river of fire, and crossing and recrossing it at numerous points.”
As the first-published term used to describe these features, Coan’s descriptively correct word should take precedence over the later-coined, inappropriate terms in common use today.
So, dear readers, let’s all do our part to honor the Rev. Coan’s important contribution to volcanology by not forgetting his original term. Pele travels underground in PYRODUCTS — not in tubes!
John Lockwood
Volcano
Kenoi’s abuse
Hilo is quiet about Mayor Billy Kenoi’s abuse of his county credit card. I hope this quietness doesn’t indicate that the people of the Big Island think this is OK.
They are not quiet in Honolulu. The media there are calling for his resignation and an investigation by the state attorney general.
John Totten
Kailua-Kona