Images

Active lava delta at East Lae‘apuki on the south coast of Kīlauea Volcano. White gas plume (right) marks location of lava entering the sea through a lava tube whose location is shown by blueish fume (left and center). In early August 2005, the delta encompassed an area of about 12 hectares (30 acres).

_{Eruption cloud, from the east crater of Anatahan Volcano, rising to a height of about 15,000 feet, on May 10, 2003. View from the NE side of the island, looking in a southwesterly direction.}

Aerial view of one of the lava-plastered cones, showing thin 1823 pāhoehoe flows (dark gray) draped over older cinder and spatter (tan). Photo by S. Rowland, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

Two bubble bursts explode simultaneously as a consequence seawater mixing with lava in a lava tube beneath surface of a lava delta. Because of the confined conditions in the lava tube, explosive pressures build up as water, heated by contact with molten lava, expands instantly to steam.

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.

Map shows the location of lava flows from Puʻu ʻŌʻō (unshaded), and Kūpaianaha (dark shaded), and Friday's fissure eruption (light shading) on Kīlauea's East Rift Zone. The inset shows the area of the enlarged flow field map and the locations and magnitudes of all felt earthquakes for the past week.

Map showing the location of lava flows from Puʻu ʻŌʻō (unshaded) and Kūpaianaha (shaded) on Kīlauea's East Rift Zone. The inset shows the area of the enlarged flow field map and the locations and magnitudes of felt earthquakes for the past week.

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

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.

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.

Aerial view of pāhoehoe flow encroaching on the Kalapana community. Hakuma horst, a raised fault block, is on the left. To the right of the point are fishponds, and to their right, Walter's Kalapana Store and Drive Inn. In the large trapezoidal plot are Mauna Kea Congregational Church and hall.

View looking uphill at surface flows advancing down a steep slope (Pulama pali) between the east rift zone and the coastal plain of Kīlauea Volcano. Overflows from the channel on the right are building levees of pāhoehoe. Within a few days, crust accreting inward from the levees built a roof over the channel, forming a new lava tube.

Lava flows from a lava tube into the sea near Kupapau Point on 11/27/1989. From the Kilauea East Rift Zone (ERZ) eruption, eruption pisode 48, Kupapau lava flow. Hawai'i Island.

Pahoehoe ropes form in the Wahaula Lava Flow across from Wahaula Visitor Center on Hawai'i Island during the Kilauea East Rift Zone (ERZ) eruption on 6/15/89.

A thin-walled lava bubble expands and bursts. These "bubble bursts" occur when seawater infiltrates the lava tube system near the shore. Such bubble bursts produce translucent sheets of spatter, or limu o Pele.

Explosive interaction between lava and seawater blasts a tephra jet consisting of steam, hot water, black tephra, and molten fragments into the air. This explosion is directed primarily toward the sea, but many explosions also send a shower of lava more than 10 to 20 m inland.

Bystanders watch steam rising from Queens Bath as lava flow enters the water. Lava overran Highway 130 at 0748 Hawaii Standard Time on the same morning at the western margin of the Kapa'ahu flow. By the end of the day, Punalu'u heiau was overrun, and Queens Bath was filled with lava.

Gas Plume during the 1985 eruption of Kīlauea, Hawaii blocks out the sun. This image was taken from Kīlauea summit during episode 32 of the Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō eruption on the middle East Rift Zone of Kīlauea. USGS image by J.D. Griggs on April 22, 1985.