The entire active lava bench at East Lae`apuki collapsed on November 28, 2005.

Closeup of lava firehose, East Lae`apuki ocean entry. Photo by NPS volunteer Kelly Wooten. | large |

The entire active lava bench at East Lae`apuki on the south coast of Kilauea volcano collapsed on November 28, 2005. This was the largest bench collapse to occur during Kilauea's 22-year-long eruption since lava began entering the ocean in late 1986.

The collapse occurred between 11:40 a.m. and 3:35 p.m. and removed approximately 35 acres of bench plus an undetermined amount of the sea cliff behind the bench. The collapse beheaded the active lava tube feeding the bench leaving a 2-meter (6 feet) diameter "firehose" of molten lava arching out from the sea cliff and dropping 15 meters (45 feet) to the ocean below.

The collapse was large enough to be recorded by the HVO seismic network nearly island-wide.

Lava bench at East Lae`apuki before collapse. USGS Photo. November 21, 2005. | med | large |

East Lae`apuki view after bench collapse. USGS photo. November 29, 2005. | med | large |

This event tops the previous collapse record, which was set by a bench collapse in the same location in December 1996. The 1996 collapse claimed 26 acres of bench and sliced off 8 acres of old sea cliff. The history of the Lae`apuki site was one reason that HVO scientists and Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park officials were especially concerned about the stability of the current bench as it continued to expand through the summer and fall of this year.

A partial collapse of the bench in late August removed 11 acres, which was about a third of the bench at that time. Thereafter, the bench continued to expand, with only minor collapses, until yesterday.

Lava continues to erupt from Kilauea Volcano at the Pu'u 'O'o vent, located within Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park. For eruption updates and information on recent earthquakes in Hawai'i, visit the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory's website at http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov.