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Hawaii Volcanism: Lava Forms |
| Over the last several million years the Hawaiian Islands have been built of successive lava flows. They are the most recent additions in a long line of volcanoes that extends up the intersection of the Aleutian Island chain with the Kamchatka peninsula. This set includes very colorful images of lava fountains, lakes, cascades, flows, spatter and lava entry to the sea from eruptions occurring over the last 30 years. |
Fountain, Pu'u O'o Vent | |
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Vent Dramatic night view of activity at Pu'u O'o on Kilauea's east rift on June 29, 1983. Individual lava fragments are visible in the spray and molten flows are visible on the flanks of the cone. Pu'u O'o fountains reached more than 300 m; flows from this vent entered Royal Gardens and destroyed 7 dwellings in the month following the date of this photo. By September 1986 this cone, at a height of 250 m, had became the highest volcanic landform built on Hawaii in historic times. Photo credit: G.E. Ulrich, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, U.S. Geological Survey |
Mauna Ulu Lava Fountain | |
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Lava Fountains View of 455 m high Mauna Ulu lava fountain on December 30, 1969, as seen from Pu'u Huluhulu on Kilauea's east rift. Photo credit: H. Schmincke |
Kilauea Iki Fountain | |
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Lava Fountains Fountain produced during the 1959 Kilauea Iki eruption. It was among the highest fountains yet observed on Earth (576 m). The eruption formed a lava lake 110 meters deep and 1 km in diameter. Activity at this site ended on December 20, 1959. Photo credit: University of Colorado |
Spatter at Vent, Mauna Loa | |
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Main Vent and Spatter View of curtains of fire, main vents, and rampart built by spatter at 2,800 m elevation on Mauna Loa, March 26, 1984. This discontinuous row of lava fountains 15-30 m high occurs along a rift. The eruption which began on March 25 fed several lava flows, one of which threatened the City of Hilo. However, the activity stopped in early April and the flows stopped about 6.4 km short of the outskirts of the city. Photo credit: J.D. Griggs, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, U.S. Geological Survey |
Dome Fountains, Mauna Ulu | |
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Dome Fountains Two dome fountains during Mauna Ulu (growing mountain) Kilauea east rift eruption on June 29, 1970. Dome fountains were visible for hours during this eruption sequence. Photo credit: D.A. Swanson, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, U.S. Geological Survey |
Drainback, Mauna Ulu | |
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Drainback and Fountain with Ash Lava is beginning to drain back into the vent at the end of the Mauna Ulu phase two eruption on Kilauea's east rift (October 20, 1969). The cooler crust of the flow drained back into the vent and was re-ejected. The process took approximately 3 to 4 minutes. Red hot droplets of liquid are being changed to solid black ash upon rapid cooling in the lava fountain. Photo credit: D.A. Swanson, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, U.S. Geological Survey |
Lava Lake, Kilauea Summit | |
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Fountains and Lava Lake Halemaumau fountains and the lava lake on Kilauea's summit at night in 1967. Fountains during the Kilauea Iki series reached heights of 575 m. Halemaumau pit was formed in 1924. Activity last occurred at this collapse feature in Kilauea's summit caldera in 1974. Photo credit: C. Stoughton, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, U.S. Geological Survey |
Surface Pattern, Lava Lake, Mauna Ulu | |
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Lava Lake View of surface pattern and stalactites at the east end of Mauna Ulu summit lake just west of a septum breach on August 27, 1972. Motion of lava beneath the surface causes the cooled skin on the surface to break apart revealing the hotter material beneath. These sections of cooled material riding on the molten lava beneath appear to duplicate on a very small scale the motion of Earth's crustal plates as they move over the more fluid mantle. Photo credit: R.T. Holcomb, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, U.S. Geological Survey |
Lava Cascades, Mauna Ulu | |
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Lava Cascades Lava from a lake on an upper level cascades into the lava lake in Pauahi's west pit during the Mauna Ulu series of eruptions at Kilauea. The lower lake shown here on November 11, 1973, has a clockwise circulation and is about 150 m across. Photo credit: R.I. Tilling, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, U.S. Geological Survey |
Overflow from Mauna Ulu Crater | |
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Lava Cascades View east at overflow from trench into main Mauna Ulu crater on March 19, 1972. Note partially cooled skin on lake. Photo credit: R.T. Holcomb, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, U.S. Geological Survey |
Fountains, Cascades, Alae Mezzanine | |
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Lava
Cascades Fountains and cascades during the Alae mezzanine eruption. Lava fountains form a curtain of fire, and lava from the fountains cascades down into the crater below, on February 22, 1969. Alae was an active lava lake near Mauna Ulu during the series of eruptions there. Photo credit: D.A. Swanson, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, U.S. Geological Survey |
Lava Fall/Cascades, Alae | |
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Lava
Cascades Lava fall/cascades into Alae from southwest corner during phase 7 of the Mauna Ulu eruption on March 22, 1969. Photo credit: J. Judd, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, U.S. Geological Survey |
Molten Lava Flow near Kalapana | |
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Lava Flow Lava flow near shore line at Pupapau Point, Kalapana, on Nov. 27, 1989, during the Kilauea east rift eruption. The surface has not yet formed a crust. As the eruption continued the upper part of the flow drained away leaving an empty channel. These troughs may later serve as channels for water streams. The speed of advance of such flows varies according to the steepness of the slope and the viscosity of the flow. On steep slopes they have been known to move at a rates of many kilometers per hour. Most move more slowly and may cover only a few tens of meters per hour or even per day. Photo credit: J.D. Griggs, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, U.S. Geological Survey |
Congealed Lava Flow near Kalapana | |
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Lava Flow Aa flow moving over earlier pahoehoe flow above Kalapana on February 15, 1990. Note clinkered surface and the crags on the upper surface of the aa flow. Note also the very ropy surface of the pahoehoe flow. Photo credit: J.D. Griggs, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, U.S. Geological Survey |
Skylight above Kalapana | |
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Lava Tubes and Skylights Skylight in a lava tube formed by the collapse of the tube roof above Kalapana on February 2, 1989. Note the block lava in the foreground. The tube provides an excellent insulator that allows the lava to remain fluid and flow greater distances from the vent. Lava flowed through a tube system to the sea and broke out of the tubes at various locations to destroy Kalapana and Royal Gardens during this East Rift eruption. Photo credit: J.D. Griggs, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, U.S. Geological Survey |
Lava Fall into Pacific | |
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Lava Tubes and Skylights Basalt lava erupted from Kilauea's East Rift and poured down 3 m from the mouth of a shallow tube into the Pacific Ocean on November 27, 1989. This East Rift eruption series began in January, 1983. Photo credit: J.D. Griggs, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, U.S. Geological Survey |
Toe of Lava Flow, Kaena Point | |
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Toe of Lava Flow Toe of an advancing pahoehoe from Mauna Ulu on black sand at Kaena Point, October 11, 1972. The "skin" on such flows is said to be flexible enough to support a man's weight. Jumping on the skin may cause molten lava to be forced out the toe. Photo credit: D.W. Peterson, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, U.S. Geological Survey |
Lava Enters Sea, Mauna Ulu | |
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Entry into the Sea Lava from the Mauna Ulu eruption entered the sea at Kaena Point on September 17, 1972. Steam may form a thick layer that acts as an insulator between the surface of the molten lava and the overlying water. Divers observed the submarine movement of lava during this sea entry. Photo credit: D.W. Peterson, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, U.S. Geological Survey |
Lava Bubble Bursts in Seawater | |
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Entry into the Sea A lava bubble bursts as it comes in contact with sea water at Kupapau Point, Kalapana, on November 27, 1989. Such littoral explosions resulting from the quenching of hot lava with sea water often form black sand that comprises the famous Hawaiian black-sand beaches. Photo credit: J.D. Griggs, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, U.S. Geological Survey |
Pillow Lava off Kealakomo | |
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Entry into the
Sea Pillow lava off Kealakomo forms as a flow advances underwater from the Mauna Ulu eruption on April 19, 1971. This diver's view shows the incandescent lava breaking through the hardened shell of a pillow-lava lobe to form another lobe as the underwater flow advances. A new volcano known as Loihi, a 3,070 m seamount, is located off the south coast of the Big Island. It is still nearly one thousand meters below the sea surface so it may not be visible for tens of thousands of years. Photo credit: R.W. Grigg, University of Hawaii |