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HVO geologists visited the lower East Rift Zone lava flow field this past week to make measurements and observations, to better understand and reconstruct the dynamics of the Fissure 8 lava flow. This photo shows the channel wall in the braided channel region of the flow. The channel wall here is about 6 m (20 feet) high, and the channel just upstream of this position is about 75 m (250 feet) wide. The large scale of the channel is a testament to the unusually high rates of flow, which exceeded 100 cubic meters (yards) per second, in the Fissure 8 channel.
This photo shows the highway roadcut exposing a cross section of the channel levee. The levee is built from many small, fluid pāhoehoe overflows spilling from the channel over the rim, shown by the thin layers here. On the right side of the photo, the channel wall is visible. The channel wall is covered in a thin veneer of fluid lava that remained after the lava in the channel drained. USGS photo by M. Patrick.
This roadcut exposes a cross section of a portion of the Fissure 8 flow that was ‘a‘ā. When ‘a‘ā flows are active, the core of the flow is fluid and moves downslope, with the rubbly clinker on the top surface carried along like a conveyor belt. This roadcut exposes the dense core that was the fluid portion, topped by the layer of rubbly clinker. USGS photo by M. Patrick.
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