Images

Spattering is common in the summit lava lake, normally at one or more sites along the lake margin. A spattering area along the northeast lake margin on Friday, November 17, is shown here. The surface crust tends to flow into the spattering area, where it sinks.

The surface crust on the summit lava lake has many different textures, and these textures can be used to identify where portions of a crustal plate originated. For instance, in this November 20 photo, the long narrow band of striated crust that cuts across the image diagonally originated from the spreading zone in the upper left area of the photo.

This video shows typical spattering in the summit lava lake in Halema‘uma‘u Crater. Spattering is driven by the bursting of large gas bubbles. The surface crust tends to flow into the spattering sites, where the crust is shredded and sinks.

Over the past week, the episode 61g Kamokuna lava delta has been partially resurfaced by viscous, spiny pāhoehoe flows (darker in color). Geologists at the ocean entry today (November 17) did not see an active ocean entry, but lava has intermittently entered the ocean over the past few weeks.

Two nene fly above Pu‘uhuluhulu, a forested Mauna Kea cinder cone surrounded by younger Mauna Loa lava flows (foreground), in the Humu‘ula Saddle on the Island of Hawai‘i. This cone is just one of the outstanding volcanic features that can be seen along Route 200, the Daniel K. Inouye Highway. USGS photo by J. Kauahikaua.

View of Moku‘āweoweo's North Pit, looking to the west-southwest. The summit of Mauna Loa is the peak visible in the background, slightly left of center. The two linear features in the foreground are ramparts from previous fissure eruptions.

USGS volcanologist Jessica Ball leads a discussion during a FEMA Volcanic Crisis Awareness course held in Chester, CA in November 2017.

Hualālai (center) and Mauna Loa (left background), two of the four active volcanoes on the Island of Hawai‘i, are ranked as "high threat" and "very high threat" volcanoes, respectively. Kīholo Bay (left foreground) is flanked on the north (left) by a lava flow erupted from Mauna Loa in 1859 and on the south by the Ka‘ūPULEHU flow erupted from Hualālai around 1800.

Mount Adams viewed from the southeast.

Close up of Sheet 2 of "Lava inundation zone maps for Mauna Loa, Island of Hawai‘i," recently published by the U.S. Geological Survey. Colors depict lava Inundation zones for the Kaumana, Waiākea, and Volcano-Mountain View regions on Mauna Loa. Yellow indicates the volcano's Northeast Rift Zone, one area along which lava could erupt.

The lava lake within Halema‘uma‘u, a crater at the summit of Kīlauea, was about 30 m (98 ft) below the vent rim on the day of this photo (January 7, 2016).

View of the Silver Gate landslide complex from Bunsen Peak in Yellowstone National Park.  The landslide originates from Terrace Mountain.

Animated GIF of lava bubbling up from Kīlauea Volcano in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. The source of the GIF comes from footage found within the USGS video: Kīlauea Summit Eruption | Lava Returns to Halemaʻumaʻu.

Animated GIF of a scientist at Kīlauea Volcano in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park looking back and forth using a range finder. Footage found in the USGS video: Kīlauea Summit Eruption | Lava Returns to Halemaʻumaʻu.

Scattered breakouts today (October 13) on the western 61g flow margin were mapped at 1.3 km (0.8 mi) from the closest portion of the emergency road. The small pāhoehoe breakouts put on a show as they slowly oozed out of growing cracks that were forced open by flow inflation (pictured).

Surface breakouts (light in color) remain active on the upper coastal plain. These breakouts are fed by both the main eastern tube—left of the kipuka and below the tube's fume trace on the pali—and from the eastern June 26 breakout branch, visible to the right of the kipuka.

Today (October 12), the Kamokuna lava delta was measured at roughly 11 acres (4.5 hectares) in size. Over the past two months, several lava tube breakouts on the sea cliff have spilled lava onto the delta.

A view of the upper coastal plain breakouts on the episode 61g flow field. The majority of the active surface flows on the coastal plain are being fed by the June 26 breakout branch on the eastern margin of the flow field (right).

HVO geologists relocate a time-lapse camera on the rim of the west pit lava pond in the Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater. Over the past several months, the camera has been slowly tilting downward due to soft, altered ground beneath it, and the general instability of the rim. The new location, about 20 m (yards) to the south, appears to be more stable and less altered.

Damage to an unreinforced rock wall at KALAHIKIOLA Church in KAP‘A‘āU, North Kohala, on the Island of Hawai‘i, following the magnitude-6.6 Kīholo and magnitude-6.0 Māhukona earthquakes in October 2006. USGS photo by J. Takahashi.

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea's East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area of the active flow field as of September 21 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the active flow as of October 12 is shown in red. Older Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō lava flows (1983-2016) are shown in gray. The yellow line is the trace of the active lava tube.