thumb|Arched passages in the main tube show the classic lava tube shape. The floor was the crust on a former lava lake that fell inward as it drained from beneath.

thumb|Collapse into a round lava lake after it drained. The source of the lava is the lavafall in the background.

thumb|A forest of sensitive tree roots in the main corridor of Kazumura.

Kazumura Cave is a lava tube and has been surveyed at long and deep, making it the longest and deepest lava tube in the world. The cave is located on the island of Hawaiʻi on the eastern slope of Kīlauea. Kīlauea is the most recently active volcano on the Big Island. The ʻAilāʻau lava flow that contains Kazumura Cave originated from the Kīlauea Iki Crater about 500 years ago.

History

One of the earliest documentations of Kazumura Cave was in 1966 when one of its entrances was designated as a fallout shelter. Smaller caves near Old Kazumura were also connected, including Hawaiian Acres # 1, Fern's, and Doc Bellou Caves. The latter two are connected by a tight crawlway. These arthropods likely use a network of interconnected cooling cracks in the surrounding pahoehoe lava as their primary habitat and sometimes disperse into the cave.

See also

  • List of longest caves in the United States

Footnotes

References

  • Kazumura Cave