Images

The founder of the Lassen Volcano Observatory (1926-1935) and second Director of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (1940-1951), Ruy Herbert Finch conducted research in both Hawaii and throughout the Western United States.

This is the thumbnail image for a two-minute video summarizing the 1924 explosive eruption at the summit of Kīlauea, which occurred 100 years ago. The video is narrated by Thomas Jaggar, who founded the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory in 1912. His description of the 1924 eruption was recorded in 1951 by Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. 

Photographs of the 1924 explosive eruptions from Halemaʻumaʻu. The photograph on the left is from the Uēkahuna bluff on May 18, 1924, by Kenichi Maehara. The photograph on the right is from near the present-day site of Volcano House on May 22, 1924, by Tai Sing Loo.

This scene west of Halemaumau looks toward the rim of the caldera, southwest of Uēkahuna Bluff. New ballistic blocks and ash from the 1924 eruption coat the floor of the caldera.

Prior to the eruption of 1924, this area was swept clean and used as a landing field for airplanes. This view looking toward the north rim of Halemaumau shows the air field littered with ballistic blocks from explosions in the 1924 eruption.

This was probably the strongest explosion of the eruption. Rocks and debris fell among spectators southeast of Halemaumau, causing one fatality. A torrential downpour and an electrical storm followed.

Acting HVO director Ruy Finch snapped this photograph of spectators running away as large blocks were tossed about 600 meters (2000 feet) onto an airplane landing field. Lorrin A.

The Kīlauea explosion that fatally injured Truman Taylor. Photograph taken by Kenichi Maehara from Uēkahuna Bluff at 11:15 a.m. on May 18, 1924.

Boles poses on the grounds of the Volcano House hotel with the Halemaumau eruption plume in the background. He fell cutting his hands and a knee while fleeing an explosion the day before. After his close call the superintendent barred all public access within two miles of Halemaumau.

Eight persons, including newspaper and movie men observing the scene at Halema‘uma‘u, were caught in a rain of hot rocks from this explosion. The rocks emitted hissing sounds as hot gas, mainly steam, escaped from them. Park superintendent Thomas Boles was knocked down twice by this bombardment.

On May 11, Ruy Finch and W.O. Clark visited Halemaumau and found a rock fragment weighing about 180 kg (400 pounds) that had been thrown 60 meters (200 feet) from the rim of the crater.

Later scientists at the Observatory listed May 10 as the first day of the eruptive series. Between this date and May 27, they carefully recorded all explosions, ballistic falls, electric storms, and muddy rains as well as earthquakes felt and recorded on seismographs.

Scientists looking into the bright glow of Mauna Loa's 1942 eruptive vent. Eruption occurred during WWII and was not publicized to prevent Japanese war planes from navigating to the island at night.

Panorama photos taken of Halemaʻumaʻu lava lake on December 11, 1919, showing the outer ring-shaped lake, the ring-shaped island of tilted crusts along the inner edge, and the central lava lake at Kīlauea's summit. USGS photos by T.A. Jaggar. 

View of the walls of Halemaʻumaʻu during the crater collapse of June 5, 1916, looking northeast from the south side of the crater. The lava lake is visible at the lower left, and the outer crater walls are at the top. The crater rim is just out of frame to the top.

Image of the steam plume that accompanied the start of Mauna Loa’s 1916 eruption on the Southwest Rift Zone. View is from within Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, with Kīlauea caldera wall visible in the middle of the photo. Photograph by H. Wood and courtesy of University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Hamilton Library. 

The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO), founded in 1912 by Thomas A. Jaggar, was the first of five volcano observatories supported by USGS today. The “Technology Station” (circled) on the eastern rim of Halema‘uma‘u crater—at the summit of Kīlauea—was the first, though temporary, of several buildings that HVO has occupied since its founding.

Slope map of Mauna Loa, including lava flows erupted since 1823 (gray), showing the approximate number of hours or days it took for a flow to advance from the vent location to the ocean or maximum reach of a flow. One flow that moved down the steep slopes on west flank of Mauna Loa reached the ocean in as little as 3 hours after the vent started erupting in 1950.

Some of the large ballistic blocks from the Kīlauea eruption of 1924 later became visitor attractions. Many of these blocks remain in place today as evidence of the forces unleashed at Kīlauea during the eruption of 1924.

Shaded relief map of Kīlauea Volcano's summit with caldera bounding faults delineated.

Coconut grove and campground on the southern shoreline of Kīlauea Volcano at Halapē before 1975 magnitude 7.7 earthquake. Halapē was a popular hiking destination in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park.