Gentle-Sloping Volcano
The shape of Hawaiian volcanoes actually reflect those runny eruptions. Mauna Loa is a category of volcano known as a shield volcano, which describes the long, gradual shape of its slope. “The reason it’s so gentle is because you don’t have these huge explosions—you have these oozy, runny lava flows that sort of leak out, decade after decade,” Phoenix said. “Then you’ve got this incredible volcanic structure that is built up one flow at a time.”
