A Hawaiian eruption is a type of volcanic eruption where lava flows from the vent in a

relatively gentle, low level eruption; it is so named because it is characteristic of Hawaiian

volcanoes. Typically they are effusive eruptions, with basaltic magmas of low viscosity, low
content of gases, and high temperature at the vent. Very little amounts of volcanic ash are
produced. This type of eruption occurs most often at hotspot volcanoes such as Kīlauea on
Hawaii's big island and in Iceland, though it can occur near subduction zones (e.g. Medicine
Lake Volcano in California, United States) and rift zones. Another example of Hawaiian
eruptions occurred on the island of Surtsey in Iceland from 1964 to 1967, when molten lava
flowed from the crater to the sea.

Hawaiian eruptions may occur along fissure vents, such as during the eruption of Mauna Loa
Volcano in 1950, or at a central vent, such as during the 1959 eruption in Kīlauea Iki Crater,
which created a lava fountain 580 meters (1,900 ft) high and formed a 38-meter cone named
Puʻu Puaʻi. In fissure-type eruptions, lava spurts from a fissure on the volcano's rift zone and
feeds lava streams that flow downslope. In central-vent eruptions, a fountain of lava can spurt
to a height of 300 meters or more (heights of 1600 meters were reported for the 1986 eruption
of Mount Mihara on Izu Ōshima, Japan).

Hawaiian eruptions usually start by the formation of a crack in the ground from which a curtain
of incandescent magma or several closely spaced magma fountains appear. The lava can
overflow the fissure and form ʻaʻā or pāhoehoe style of flows. When such an eruption from a
central cone is protracted, it can form lightly sloped shield volcanoes, for example Mauna Loa
or Skjaldbreiður in Icelan