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Rock fall at Halema‘uma‘u triggered an explosive event
Today at 10:28 a.m. HST, a partial collapse of the southern Overlook crater wall triggered an explosive event at Kīlauea Volcano's summit lava lake. A large plume of gas, ash, and lava fragments was seen rising from the lava lake at the Jaggar overlook. The explosion threw debris onto the Halema‘uma‘u crater rim at the old visitor overlook, which has been closed due to ongoing volcanic hazards such as this explosive event.
Geologists arrived at Halema‘uma‘u about 40 minutes after the explosive event to document the deposit and check on the webcams and other monitoring equipment. Upon arrival, the surface of the lava lake was still disturbed from the rock falls impact.
Lithic material (white), older crater wall rock which collapsed to trigger the explosive event, was also found in the deposit on the rim of Halema‘uma‘u crater.
The fresh spatter erupted from the Halema‘uma‘u lava lake today during the explosive event, ranged from small lapilli to bombs. The spatter shown here stretched approximately 82 cm (2.7 ft) long.
Ballistics from the explosion impacted a few of the solar panels which power the monitoring equipment on the rim of Halema‘uma‘u.
An HVO geologist gathers samples from a network of collection buckets to evaluate the explosive deposit.
Viewing the Halema‘uma‘u parking lot (in background) from within the area of the explosive deposit. There is a clear boundary where the new deposit (which is gray in color) ends, and the blanket of Pele's hair (golden brown) continues.
Video: At 10:28 a.m. HST this morning (April 6), rock falls from the Overlook crater wall into Kīlauea Volcano's summit lava lake triggered an explosive event. This video, taken by the K2cam, shows a dark pulsing plume of ash and debris. The explosion hurled spatter (molten lava fragments) and lithic blocks (older crater wall) onto the rim at the old visitor overlook and to the southwest. This area is closed to the public due to volcanic hazards such as today's event.
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