VHP Photo Glossary: Pele's hair Thin strands of volcanic glass
drawn out from molten lava have long been called Pele's hair,
named for Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes. A single
strand, with a diameter of less than 0.5 mm, may be as long as 2
m. The strands are formed by the stretching or blowing-out of
molten basaltic glass from lava, usually from lava fountains,
lava cascades, and vigorous lava flows (for example, as pahoehoe
lava plunges over a small cliff and at the front of an `a`a
flow). Pele's hair is often carried high into the air during
fountaining, and wind can blow the glass threads several tens of
kilometers from a vent. Image: Hundreds of strands of Pele's
hair intertwined on the surface of a pahoehoe flow at Kilauea
Volcano, Hawai`i. The glass strands were erupted from Mauna Ulu,
a shield that formed on the east rift of Kilauea between 1969
and 1974.