Images

USGS geologist Don Swanson (right) explains Keanakāko‘i Tephra stratigraphy exposed near the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory to scientists who visited Kīlauea during a Geological Society of America field trip in May 2017. USGS photo by T. Neal.

Example of the Keanakāko‘i Tephra sequence exposed on the southeast side of Kīlauea Volcano's summit caldera showing some of the identified units labeled with the revised nomenclature scheme. USGS photo by D. Swanson.

USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory field engineers begin the process of lowering a tiltmeter into a deep borehole on the west flank of Mauna Loa. The installation is guided by a custom-built apparatus that includes a 3-D printed jig. This tiltmeter will help monitor the currently elevated activity of Mauna Loa Volcano. USGS photo.

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea's East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area of the active flow field as of August 9 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the active flow as of August 20 is shown in red. Older Puʻu ʻŌʻō lava flows (1983-2016) are shown in gray. The yellow line is the trace of the active lava tube.

On Saturday, August 19 at 04:10 HST a breakout that started 120 m (394 ft) up-slope of the ocean entry, began to spill over the sea cliff and onto the delta. The lava fall was located to the west of the ramp (tubed-over firehose), and produced a small ‘A‘ā flow on the western portion of the delta.

At 9:35 pm HST on August 19, there was a large littoral explosion near the front of the delta (left). Another smaller explosion was seen 5 minutes later. These explosions are typically caused by mixing of cool sea water and hot lava. The August 19 explosions were not followed by obvious delta subsidence or collapse, something we have seen in the past.

A telephoto image of the spatter deposit produced by the August 19 littoral explosions at the lava delta. When ejected, the spatter was thrown much higher than the height of the sea cliff which is approximately 28 m (92 ft). The flying debris is just one of the many hazards at an ocean entry.

Between August 19-22, 2017, 140 seismometers were deployed around Mount St. Helens. Instruments were placed on top of the 2004-2008 lava dome, the 1980-86 lava dome, the 1980 crater floor, and around the volcanic cone.

Map of lava flows erupted from Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō since 1983. Gray color shows area covered by lava flows erupted from many different vents between 1983 and June 2014. Pink shows the area covered by the June 27th flow between June 2014 and June 2016. Red shows the area covered by the 61g flow between May 2016 and August 9, 2017.

Mount St. Helens, as viewed from the Castle Lake Overlook.

The flow front of the June 26 breakout (pictured above) has stalled. On the coastal plain today, the closest active breakouts found by HVO geologists were 2.1 km (1.3 miles) upslope from the emergency route. There were a few areas of active pāhoehoe breakouts which varied from sluggish ropey textures to thin and fluid flows.

Cracks on the Kamokuna lava delta continue to develop. These photos from July 31 (left) and today, August 15 (right), highlight changes on the delta during the past two weeks. The yellow numbers mark a few prominent features on the delta (1 & 3) and older sea cliff (2 & 4).

Side-by-side images from the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory's Thermal Web Camera (HTcam) located on the rim of Halema‘uma‘u before (left) and after (right) lava veneer from the vent wall fell into the lake on July 28, 2017. The collapse scar is circled at right.

This map is similar to the map above but shows a thermal map over the Episode 61g lava flow. Cooler colors (blue and green) show cooled, inactive portions of the flow surface. Hot colors (red and orange) show areas of active surface breakouts.

At the Kamokuna ocean entry, the lava delta is active and slowly growing. As of today, the delta is about 6.8 acres (2.8 hectares) in size. Many coast-parallel cracks are visible on the delta, including a large crack near the center that spans the entire width of the delta. A few small streams of lava entering the ocean can be seen near the front of the delta.

The June 26 breakout (lighter-colored flow in the center of the photo) is active on the coastal plain and at the flow front. There's been no significant advancement of the flow front since July 31. Today, active breakouts were located roughly 1.5 km (0.9 mile) from the emergency route.

While mapping the flow margins, HVO geologists found an opening into an old lava tube system that has been partly filled with episode 61g lava. Most of the cooled lava cascades were intact and sitting on top of rubble from the caved-in roof of the abandoned tube.

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea's East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area of the active flow field as of July 10 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the active flow as of August 9 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.

This time-lapse sequence shows the outgassing plume from the Halema‘uma‘u lava lake at the summit of Kīlauea. The images were captured by a camera on the flank of Mauna Loa on May 19, 2017. As the plume rose from the vent, it reached the atmospheric inversion layer, which effectively capped the height of the plume.

This perched lava channel, which was as much as 150 feet (45 meters) above the ground, carried lava downslope from the Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Fissure D vent during episode 58 of Kīlauea Volcano's ongoing East Rift Zone eruption. The channel was the main path for lava between July and November 2007. Episode 58 continued until early March 2011.

GeoGirls collect water quality data at Coldwater Lake and sieve landslide deposits to learn more about the impact of the 1980 eruption and the transport of volcanic sediment.