Glaciers did not form on Kilauea Volcano because of its low elevation, however it was cold enough to snow. This photograph shows pillow lava that formed beneath the ice on Mauna Kea about 170,000 years ago. Photograph from S.C. Porter, Pleistocene subglacial eruptions on Mauna Kea, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1350. The summits of some volcanoes contain crater lakes. Close proximity of magma to the lake can lead to explosive activity.
Crater lakes can also generate hazardous mudflows.
The presence of only one small lake on the Mauna Kea Volcano makes an eruption associated with a crater lake in Hawaii very unlikely. The recent eruption at Ruapehu in New Zealand displayed many of the common characteristics of this type of eruption. Phreatic explosion at Ruapehu in 1992. Photo by Christian Treber. Classifications Based on the Character of the Eruption Eruptions can be classified by how explosive they are.