The Implacable Power of Volcanic Lava
Wherever lava goes, it incinerates or buries everything in its path. And there’s not much anyone can do except watch.
USGS
In 1935, lava from an eruption of the volcano Mauna Loa, on the Big Island of Hawai’i, started oozing toward the Wailuku River, main source of water for the city of Hilo. This danger to the more than 15,000 residents of Hilo was exactly the opportunity that Thomas Jaggar, founder of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, had been waiting for: to blow up a volcano.
This isn’t as crazy as it sounds. Actually, no, it was crazy. Jaggar thought, based on the state of the science, that explosives would collapse and plug the channels and underground tubes through which lava flows.
https://www.wired.com/story/the-implacable-power-of-volcanic-lava/
