Images

Small vents in the southern portion of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater have been active recently, and erupting new lava flows onto the floor of the crater. The light-colored flow in the center of the photograph was active this morning, and slowly spreading across the crater floor.

During a 2015 field trip with Franklin and Marshall College students, Don Swanson, a geologist at the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, demonstrates that reticulite (frothy basalt, less dense than pumice, explosively erupted in lava fountains) sinks, rather than floats, in water due to its high permeability.

Don Swanson talks about Kīlauea Volcano's 1969-1974 Mauna Ulu eruption with geology students from Franklin and Marshall College during their 2015 field trip to Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. The Mauna Ulu lava shield, which formed during the eruption, is visible in the background. Photo courtesy of Stan Mertzman, Franklin and Marshall College.

This movie, created from a sequence of HVO webcam images, shows lava erupting from a spatter cone within the south embayment in the Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater (see February 24 image below for location). The activity started around 8:15 a.m., HST, on Wednesday, March 2, 2016, and covered part of the crater floor before ceasing at about 3:00 p.m.

Glacier Bay, Alaska, dive team.

Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō has changed dramatically over the years. This map shows the configuration of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō's current crater (outlined in yellow) and vents (marked in red). The base image is a mosaic created from photographs captured during a helicopter overflight on January 19, 2016.

This photo looks north-northwest at the northeast embayment at Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, showing the vent (a spatter cone) on the floor of the embayment. The heavy fume on the rim of the embayment is another vent.

This photo, also of the northeast embayment at Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, is interesting because it shows the lava tube for the Kahauale‘a 2 flow, active during 2013 and 2014, exposed high on the crater wall. The Kahauale‘a 2 flow is the lava flow that preceded the currently active June 27th lava flow, which began June 27, 2014.

This photo, looking to the west, shows the two spatter cones that mark vents on the floor of the southern embayment in Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater.

This photo looks north into the northwest embayment at Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. The spatter cone on edge of the embayment (the dark object nearly surrounded by white staining) has not fed lava flows for several months, but incandescent holes on the spatter cone (not visible in this photo) show that lava still resides beneath it.

This photo looks west toward the West pit on Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō.

The West pit, as seen in this photo looking west, contains a small lava pond that is tucked partly back under the pit's overhanging southwest wall. The walls are, in fact, overhanging most of the pit's circumference, making the pit wider at the bottom than at the top.

One of the new tools deployed by the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory to better monitor the current unrest on Mauna Loa is a webcam focused on the volcano's Southwest Rift Zone, which has been the site of eruptions in 1903, 1916, 1919, 1926, and 1950.

USGS geologist Jamie Conrad uses a map of the seafloor off Southern California to plan high-resolution mapping southwest of Santa Catalina Island. Small inset shows seafloor data collected by the ship that reveals hills, gullies, and basins.

A ship will tow this green cable, which contains underwater microphones that record sound reflected off layers beneath the seafloor. USGS scientists will use the data to pinpoint the location of faults.

The Hilina Pali on Kīlauea Volcano's south flank is visible evidence of the steep Hilina Fault System. Beneath this system lies the flat-lying dEACUTEcollement fault that has no visible surface expression, but has produced several large earthquakes in the past 200 years. Photo courtesy of Ingrid Johanson.

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area of the flow field on January 19 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow field as mapped on February 12 is shown in red. The yellow lines show the active lava tube system. Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō lava flows erupted prior to June 27, 2014, are shown in gray.

This map overlays a georeferenced thermal image mosaic onto a map of the flow field near Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō to show the distribution of active and recently active breakouts. The thermal images were collected during a helicopter overflight on February 12. The June 27th flow field as mapped on January 19 is outlined in green for comparison.

Scattered breakouts persist northeast of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, with much of the active lava moving along the northern flow field boundary, burning vegetation and creating smoke plumes. This view looks southwest, and Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō is near the top of the photograph.

A closer view of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, looking northwest. The vent for the June 27th lava flow is at the right edge of the photograph, near the source of white fume. Mauna Loa (upper left) and Mauna Kea (upper right) are visible in the distance.

A narrow stream of lava pours from the top of a tumulus (roughly 3 meters, or 10 feet above the surroundings), attesting to the fluid pressure in the interior of the flow. This view looks north, towards the area that lava is burning forest. Mauna Kea is faintly visible in the distance.