Catalog record
These fields are copied from the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program Holocene volcano snapshot stored on this site. The file was fetched 2026-09-19T12:21:44Z. It is a location catalog, not a live alert.
- Catalog name
- Mauna Loa
- GVP number
- 332020
- Country
- United States
- Type
- Shield
- Elevation
- 4,170 m
- Region
- Eastern Pacific Volcanic Regions
- Subregion
- Hawaiian-Emperor Hotspot Volcano Group
- Tectonic setting
- Intraplate / Oceanic crust (< 15 km)
- Last-eruption year
- 2022
- Evidence code
- Eruption Observed
- Latitude, longitude
- 19.475, -155.608
Elevation rank in the Hawaiian-Emperor Hotspot Volcano Group in this snapshot: 2 of 6. Rank is by the listed elevation only. It is not a hazard ranking.
How to read the last-eruption year
The year is a catalog field. A recent year means the snapshot recorded activity in that year. It is not an alert level, a size, or a statement about what happens next. Evidence codes in this file include “Eruption Observed” and “Eruption Dated.” Those are Smithsonian categories for how the eruption year was established, not a forecast flag.
Setting
Mauna Loa is listed as a shield at 4,170 m, with a last-eruption year of 2022. In the same hotspot group the snapshot lists Mauna Kea higher, at 4,205 m, with a last-eruption year of 2460 BCE. Kīlauea is the lower, more recently active shield in the same group. “Taller in the file” is not “more hazardous.”
The tectonic code is the same intraplate oceanic setting as Kīlauea, and the point is outside every Ring of Fire rectangle used here. USGS groups most Hawaiian eruptions at VEI 0 or VEI 1. Use that as a comparison of eruption style, not as a prediction for Mauna Loa.
Outside every documented Ring of Fire rectangle on this site. The rectangles are documented on the About page. They are a lat/lon belt, not an official plate polygon.
Other volcanoes in this subregion
Highest listed elevations in the Hawaiian-Emperor Hotspot Volcano Group in this snapshot, excluding this volcano when it is already first:
- Mauna Kea, 4,205 m, last-eruption year 2460 BCE.
- Haleakala, 3,053 m, last-eruption year 1750.
- Hualalai, 2,523 m, last-eruption year 1801.
Distance to published great-earthquake epicenters
The distances below use this volcano’s catalog coordinates and epicenters from the USGS list of the 20 largest earthquakes since 1900. They are spherical distances to points, not distances to a fault trace, and not a hazard score.
- 1946 M8.6 Unimak Island, Alaska (1946-04-01 12:29 UTC) — 3,833 km from the catalog point.
- 1957 M8.6 Andreanof Islands, Aleutians (1957-03-09 14:23 UTC) — 3,967 km from the catalog point.
- 1965 M8.7 Rat Islands, Aleutians (1965-02-04 05:01 UTC) — 4,185 km from the catalog point.
You can repeat the measurement for any coordinates on the distance to fault references tool.
What this page will not tell you
It will not tell you the next eruption time, the next earthquake on the neighboring trench, or an evacuation route. For U.S. volcano notices, use the USGS Volcano Hazards Program. For earthquakes, use the USGS event pages linked from Live Quakes. This site’s volcano map only draws the Holocene catalog.