Legends of PELE , the goddess of volcanoes, tells about her search for a home, moving down the chain of islands digging her fire pits until she arrived at Kilauea where she made her home in the lava filled craters. A 'a is rough and clinkery with sharp, jagged rocks. Pahoehoe flows are fluid with less gas content so the surface appears smooth sometimes ropy. Lava tubes are formed in pahoehoe lava flows when the surface flows harden while the lava in the interior is still molten. The lava then drains out of the flow from below, leaving a tunnel or tube.
Some tubes can be as large as a subway tunnel.
They erupt not only at their summits but also along rift zones, which are fractured zones of weakness within the volcano. Kilauea has two rift zones. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park was the first national park in Hawaii and the eleventh in the United States. The Park covers 200,000 acres of land.