Dangerous, Golden 'Hair' Sprouts from Hawaii Volcano

By Laura Geggel, Senior Writer | June 14, 2018 04:57 pm ET

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This hair-like material actually consists of fine strands of volcanic glass known as Pele's hair that came from lava within Kilauea volcano, in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
Credit: Alamy


Golden, sharp strands of so-called goddess hair are covering parts of Hawaii's Big Island. But what are these potentially dangerous threads — called Pele's hair — and where did they come from?

The mats of Pele's hair — a product of the ongoing eruption from Kilauea volcano — consist of thin glass fibers that form when gas bubbles within lava burst at the lava's surface, said Don Swanson, a research geologist at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

"The skin of the bursting bubbles flies out, and some of the skin becomes stretched into these very long threads, sometime[s] as long as a couple of feet [0.6 meters] or so," Swanson told Live Science. [Photos: Fiery Lava from Kilauea Volcano Erupts on Hawaii's Big Island]

These gossamer strands are thin, just a micron (one-thousandth of a millimeter) or two in diameter, although some of them are coarser. "Often, they are really like human hair, so the name is very apt," Swanson said.

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