Volcano plume seeding clouds?

[carnivorousplant]

Thanks, Beowulff; I thought lava flows were smooth and featureless.

[ftg]

For comparison, you can see how long it takes for vegetation to return near Mount St. Helens ~38 years after the big explosion.*

Note: Mostly ash not lava, the climate is marine so lots of moisture. But still the forests have only returned slowly in patches. (The areas outside the natural area have been replanted for forestry reasons.)

• The volcano cam might be obscured by clouds. Just try again later.

[Hypno-Toad]

@Mangosteen

(I own a home in Hawaii and used to live in the Puna district on the Big Island)

Often the first life to form is lichen because it can live without soil. Ferns are next and can be seen growing in lava that is only a year or so old. Rainfall makes a huge difference and the Kilauea area gets over 80 inches on average. Another important factor is wind. Strong breezes blow in dust to the lava areas and airborne seeds germinate in these small pockets of soil.

Metrosideros polymorpha (or in Hawaiian “ʻōhiʻa lehua”) are the first real trees to grow in “fresh” lava. They are pretty much the only kind of tree you will see in the “recent” lava flow areas.

People who live in the Puna area try to find cracks or crevices in the lava on their property. They fill these areas with bags of soil and plant trees. The roots eventually break up the lava underneath and grow quite well.

So is it easier for plants to return to Aa or to pahoehoe? And I was wondering if people ever try to reclaim their lava covered land and how hard it is to do so.

[Mangosteen]

@Hypno-Toad

So is it easier for plants to return to Aa or to pahoehoe? And I was wondering if people ever try to reclaim their lava covered land and how hard it is to do so.

I don’t think there is much difference between the two. Probably one of the keys to new growth is how far the location is away from a forest that the lava did not cover. Seeds from areas that escaped the lava flow provide an excellent source of new growth material. Another key is abundant rainfall.

One point that a lot of people may not understand is that someone’s property could very well be under 50 or even 100 feet of lava. The contour of the land may also be completely different. Short of GPS calculations, there really is no way to recognize your old lot. Familiar landmarks have completely disappeared. Things like roads and powerlines may not be built for years if ever. Sure you might be able to four wheel drive out to your former home site and build some kind of structure and use solar power, water catchment tanks and a bucket toilet, but how long do you really think you could put up with that kind of life?

[Broomstick]

There are actually people who do it, there’s some homesteaders of that sort on the old Royal Gardens subdivision site. But not a common thing.

[Hypno-Toad]

You know, trying to reclaim lava land might be good practice for Terra-forming operations.

[dtilque]

@Mangosteen

I don’t think there is much difference between the two. Probably one of the keys to new growth is how far the location is away from a forest that the lava did not cover. Seeds from areas that escaped the lava flow provide an excellent source of new growth material. Another key is abundant rainfall.

The real issue is soil. New lava is not a good place to grow things since it’s just bare rock. It takes centuries for rock to get broken down and turned into soil. However, if there’s a depression or nooks and crannies that blown-in debris and bird droppings accumulate in, then you may be able to grow plants in that. There’ll probably be a limit as to how large a plant, since the soil is likely to be shallow. But if you really want to grow stuff there, you can always truck in some soil from elsewhere.

[Hypno-Toad]

What happens to soil that is covered with lava? I’m guessing that the top layer does a combination of melting/fusing and exploding as the moisture in it is suddenly and rapidly raised a few hundred degree. But for how far down? Inches? Feet?