The new project will build on results of the successful pilot drill hole project completed three years ago near Hilo. Studies from that work showed that Hawaii's major volcanoes may be active for periods of almost a million years, nearly twice as long as previously thought.

Additional findings of interest are that:

• The frequency of eruptions from Mauna Loa, a younger volcano arising from the slopes of Mauna Kea, has slowed from peak activity 500,000 years ago.

• Mauna Kea has subsided (settled) by more than 3,400 feet during the last 400,000 years, and the surface area of Mauna Loa is shrinking as the island subsides faster (about 2.5 millimeters per year) than the volcano builds new flows.

• Fresh groundwater can be channeled to depths of more than 1,000 feet below sea level by changes in rock porosity, and cold, deep seawater can circulate long distances through porous rocks present at depths of 3,000 feet beneath the surface of the island.

  
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