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Roiling eruption column rising from Crater Peak vent of Mt. Spurr volcano. View from the south.

USGS hydrologist Michael Sorey tries to locate the steam vent at a fumarole in the Bumpass Hell area in Lassen Volcanic National Park.

Pu’u ‘Ō’ō is a cinder and spatter cone in Kilauea’s east rift zone. It began erupting on January 3, 1983; a summary of its eruption can be found here. This image shows the cone just starting to form a collapse pit on its flank.

Endangered Hawaiʻi forest bird, 'Akepa (Loxops coccineus) (male).

Endangered Hawai'i forest bird, 'Akiapōlā‘au (Hemignathus munroi).

Endangered forest bird, Hawai'i Creeper (Oreomystis mana).

Zebra Mussel, Lake Huron specimens.

Zebra Mussel, Lake Huron specimens.

View of the lava lake found inside the crater in Pu’u ‘Ō’ō cinder cone.

Steamboat Geyser in the steam-phase of an eruption on June 4, 2018, Norris Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park. Photo by Jamie Farrell (University of Utah).

Portion of the Geologic map of the lower East Rift Zone of Kīlauea Volcano, Hawai‘i by Moore and Trusdell (1991), showing the southeastern part of the Leilani Estates subdivision. Some geologic units depicted here are now buried by 2018 lava flows; a red star marks the location of fissure 8.

View southeast from Overlook Cabin looking over the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes. The pyroclastic and ash deposits that fill the valley remain nearly vegetation-free more than 100 years after the 1912 Novarupta-Katmai eruption.

Cinder cones at the summit of Mauna Kea. Mauna Kea is a dormant shield volcano on the north end of Hawaii Island. Astronomical observatories in the foreground.

View of the crater at the top of the Pu’u ‘Ō’ō cinder cone prior to the appearance of collapse pits in the flank of the cone.

USGS geochemist Cathy Janik (left) and Iceland Geosurvey chemist Jón Örn Bjarnason (right) collect a gas sample from a fumarole in Lassen Volcanic National Park.

Lava rises around Walter's Drive Inn sign. Concrete walls of the store and roof of the post office are in the background.

Lava entering ocean at Kalapana Gardens subdivision, Kīlauea Volcano, Hawai‘i

Individual pāhoehoe flow fronts were typically only 10-20 cm thick as they moved through Kalapana. However, the thin leading edges of the flows quickly crusted over and stagnated. As lava continued to push beneath the crust, the cooled surface was lifted up until eventually lava again broke out of the sides and front of the inflated flows.

Kalapana Gardens subdivision inundated by pāhoehoe flows, Kīlauea Volcano, Hawai‘i

Harry K. Brown Park was originally called "Wai'akolea Park." It was renamed "Harry Ka'ina Brown Memorial Park" in 1953 after Brown, a county auditor, whose ancestral home was in Kalapana. Thick smoke is from burning asphalt.

The left edge of the lava flow is following the inland contours of Hakuma horst, the fault block to the left, which is directing the flow into the heart of Kalapana.