Dozens of homes have been destroyed by Hawaii's Kilauea volcano on the state’s main island,

with scientists saying lava is spewing more than 60 metres into the air.

Local officials said the decimated homes were in the Leilani Estates subdivision,

where molten rock, toxic gas and steam have been bursting through openings in the ground created by the volcano. 

A Hawaiian eruption is a type of volcanic eruption where lava flows from the vent in a relatively gentle,

low level eruption; it is so named because it is characteristic of Hawaiian volcanoes.

Typically they are effusive eruptions,

with basaltic magmas of low viscosity, low content of gases, and high temperature at the vent.

Very small amounts of volcanic ash are produced.

This type of eruption occurs most often at hotspot volcanoes such as Kīlauea on Hawaii's big island and in Iceland,

though it can occur near subduction zones (e.g. Medicine Lake Volcano in California, United States) and rift zones.

Another example of Hawaiian eruptions occurred on the island of Surtsey in Iceland from 1964 to 1967,

when molten lava flowed from the crater to the sea.