European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 22, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                New York tier Wydr. Gordon p. Eaton head of the Hawaii Volcano Observatory stands near rim of the Kilauea Crater. Wjk  liter Anderson went Back and found it a new crack had opened in the Earth More than 100 feet from where he had is sitting on the Road. I Don t know if i uld do that sort of thing  in a More scientific vein Anderson is sex rim enting with the use of electric cur 4j and Fields in exploring the volcanoes singing internal structures. Ibe work is based on the principle that Una is More conductive than solid Rock films it should be possible to map its and flow. Networks of permanently planted electrodes Are planned As yet other Means of keeping watch on Kilauea and Mauna Loa. Few areas of geology Are As exciting As volcanology according to or. Eaton. He grew up in Ohio where he said the rehash t been a Volcano in hundreds of Mil Lions of  he got hooked on geology at Wesleyan University worked Summers gathering data on farm Wells in Connecticut and earned his doctorate in geology and geophysics at the California Institute of technology. So much of geology is working with a carcass like a detective with a dead body or. Eaton said. You have to work backward from what you Sec and figure out How and Why it happened. Here you re observing the processes As they actually occur. It s a geologically dynamic Situa Tion always Active and always changing the dynamics of Mauna Loa Are or. Eaton s most immediate concern. Over the last Century the Volcano has exhibited a typical eruptive Cycle a Summit eruption followed by another Summit eruption and then a rift out break on the Northeast flank. An eruption occurred on Mauna Loa s Summit in july 1975, the first in 23 years. This ended the Volcano s longest dormancy in recorded history it usually erupts on an average of every three or four years. Although the 197s eruption was Small by Mauna Loa s standards a series of Earth quakes followed the eruption which suggested to Observatory scientists that Large volumes of magma were moving into the North cast rift zone primed for a future  the scientists should begin detecting a build up in the number and intensity of tremors in that area they believe they will have a few Days to prepare for the predicted major eruption. There s no Way we can Stop a  or. Eaton told state and local officials at a recent planning meeting. The Only thing we can do is try to steer it or make it flow More broadly so that it will Cool  the Observatory has four contingency plans. The first is to use a technique tried successfully by or. Jaggar in 1935, Aerial bombing. The intent would be to disrupt the vents and channels to spread the flow hoping it will Cool and freeze in its tracks Well before reaching Hilo. Other methods include bulldozing Walls of rubble to Block the flow in narrow Val Leys and if that should fail pumping in Ocean water to Cool the lava. Iceland has used the latter technique to Good effect. Or. Eaton Aid but it would be More difficult in Hawaii because of the greater ele vat ions from the sea. As a last resort or. Eaton said. Hilo would have to be evacuated. Meanwhile the Volcano continues to swell and shake and scientists of the hawaiian Volcano Observatory maintain their Vigil keep an instrumental Finger on the pulse of the Volcano and Hope they have Learned enough to be Able to sound the Alert Well before Mauna Loa s next big i Tow i leaving its tone natural wild Waters has been re Mruki Narsizo e been forced i trips. Corn thousands of my More than in the hug their boats i May Well Beinner recce ice. Jul from wet. The ervice and insight ency plans Dpi then threat of Ottn a recurrently Rock piles Laden with dead fish. The sorry stale of the lower Colorado River is As much a Man made situation As it is a by product of the  amount of water that flows in the River from the Utah Border to Lake Mead in Nevada is con trolled by the Mammoth Glen dam Miles upstream from the grand Canyon. Lake Powell behind it is abnormally Low because the drought left so Little snowing the mountains to melt and replenish it. The Bureau of reclamation which operates the dam. Has been deliberately holding the flow below the dam to a minimum because it must save the water stored in Lake Powell for Peak summer months when demand for the dam s hydroelectric Power is highest most of that Power goes to Distant cities. In other words a vacationer from los Angeles or Phoenix May have gotten beached in the Middle of the grand Canyon in May because Federal officials wanted to make sure he would get enough electricity to turn his air conditioner on full blast in july. The Bureau of reclamation has promised that it will return the lower Colorado River flows to near Normal this Rammer. The flow has been one third or the of Normal. According to a Bureau spokesman the water let new York Tir tourists Row along in this Placid area of the Colorado River once thundering with rapids. Out through the dam into the grand Canyon would ordinarily be about 12,000 to 15,000 cubic feet per second in May. Producing an average of 13 million kilowatt hours. Instead it is currently letting out an average of Only 3,000 to 5,000 and sometimes As Low As 1,000 cubic feet per second producing an average of Only 4 million kilowatt  Impact can be seen most dramatically from the air. On one Side of the dam Lake Powell is an immense Placid Blue Lake. Below the dam the Colo Rado River has been reduced to a network of Sand bars with streams running Between them. The Bureau warned commercial River runners months ago that the nver flow was going to be Cut drastically no one foresaw the Impact until easter weekend when rafts ferrying 90 people from the increasingly popular grand Canyon trips All got stuck along the 60-mile stretch of the River that normally would be thundering  is had to hike Miles up the Canyon to notify the r Tho cities. They sent helicopters deep into the great chasm to drop emergency food supplies. The Bureau opened the Dan s Gates wider for a Brief period to hush the beached boats far ther downstream to an Encampment at the Bottom of the National Park. Once there the rat ten were evacuated on mules or by helicopter up to the Canyon Ridge. Another stranded group had to be evacuated by helicopter recently. Since then the Parks service has urged Commer Cial outfitters to postpone All motorized trips in Large boats. Some smaller boats can still get through. I be had to do rough  remarked Wayne Landrum the Ranger stationed at Lee s ferry North of the grand Canyon where most raft trips begin. In the first half of May 1976. His records showed. 36trips carrying 680 people were launched this year there Are Only four trips with 85 people last year. 12,000 people rafted through the Canyon. It s brought us to a  said Jerry Sand Erson of Page Ariz the head of one of the biggest nver running outfits. So far he said the Low water has Cost him $258,000 in cancellations. A California based outfitter. Outdoor adventure River specialists or oars for Short which raws its rafts instead of using outboard motors has launched Only three Small boatloads of tourists at Lee s ferry. Well just have to work a Little  said Sam Street Leader of the tour. The exposed rocks will be Tricky. But the positive Side is we probably won t see anybody for the entire 13 Days. This has t happened in 30 years. It will be a True wilderness  22, 1977 the stars and stripes Page is