Calgary prof, students to study Hawaiian volcanoes as Kilauea evacuations continue

They may not be heading right into the fire, but a Calgary professor and 12 students are off to the Big Island of Hawaii to get an up-close-and-personal look at volcanology and how a community responds to it.

"The ultimate goal is by understanding the processes and products of volcanism, we can then use that knowledge to interpret ancient volcanic records," Rajeev Nair, a University of Calgary earth science professor, told The Homestretch on Monday.

"That's a fundamental part of training of most geologists."

More than 2,000 people have been evacuated since the massive Kilauea volcano one of the world's most active erupted on May 3 and the national park surrounding it has been shut to visitors.

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It's Nair's third time visiting the area.

"We are going to be visiting areas outside of the current activity because the Big Island has four other volcanoes as well," he said.

"We'll be focusing our course this year on probably Mauna Loa and Hualalai, which are not active."

Kilauea has always been of interest to the professor.

"Kilauea is probably one of the most active volcanoes in the world but generally it's a benign volcano. It's not [a] Mount St. Helens type volcano which blows up and is dangerous," he said.

"It's an interesting time to be there. One of the key parts of becoming a geologist is to understand natural disasters like volcanic activities and earthquakes and how communities deal with them."

Kilauea has a history

Nair says some of his students have expressed an interest in specializing in volcanology.

"They are still undergraduate students but some of them have plans to study volcanology in grad school. But for others it's part of a larger program where you are trained to interpret a wide variety of geological deposits."

The volcano has a history, Nair adds.

"The last time it happened was in 1924. It occurred when the lava lake at the summit dropped below the water table and the water interacted with the magma creating these explosive eruptions. Ash deposits can be dispersed over a larger area and that is the primary concern for the public living in the area," he said.

"It can only be truly appreciated while you are on the ground."

The team heads to the Big Island at the end of the month.

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With files from The Homestretch