Lava bypasses July 21 channel and erupts from channel flank

At approximately 6 am this morning, lava began erupting from the south flank of the perched channel nearly directly over fissure D, the original July 21 eruption vent. In the past several months, lava has been supplied from fissure D into the perched channel system. This change in the eruption has caused most of the lava to bypass the channel and move from fissure D directly to the surface.

The bypass caused lava levels within the existing channel to drop an estimated 10 m (30 feet) or more, but there is a greatly diminished amount of lava still flowing in the channel. No lava was entering the east tube, but two pahoehoe flows east and southeast of Pu'u Kia'i continued to advance through the day - the lowest had reached the 1500 foot elevation before stalling. Without lava entering the east tube, these flows will probably stagnate over the next few days.

The Hawai'i County Fire Department provided HVO geologists with two overflights today. By 9:30 am, one of the new flows had advanced a few hundred meters (yards) north - the other had advanced nearly 900 m (0.6 miles) southeast. A second Hawai'i County Fire Department overflight at 5:30 pm found that the southeast-going lava flow had only advanced another 100 m (300 ft) beyond the morning location. Instead of advancing, the lava flow had become wider and started to pond near fissure D.

Based on this information, there is no immediate threat directly from lava flows. However, residents of Royal Gardens subdivision are advised to keep informed about the progress of this flow over the next few days.

For eruption updates and information on recent earthquakes in Hawai'i, visit the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory website at http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov.

The eruption is within the Kahauale`a Natural Area Reserve. HVO will continue to monitor the situation closely and will post updates at http://volcano.wr.usgs.gov/hvostatus.php.

USGS provides science for a changing world. For more information, visit http://www.usgs.gov.

Subscribe to USGS News Releases via our electronic mailing list (http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/list_server.asp) or RSS (http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/default.asp) feed.

The USGS serves the nation by providing reliable scientific information to: describe and understand the Earth; minimize loss of life and property from natural disasters; manage water, biological, energy, and mineral resources; and enhance and protect our quality of life.

This press release and in-depth information about USGS programs may be found on the USGS home page: www.usgs.gov. To receive the latest USGS news releases automatically by email, send a request to listproc@listserver.usgs.gov. Specify the listserver(s) of interest from the following names: water-pr: geologic-hazards-pr; biological-pr; geologic-pr; mapping-pr; products-pr; lecture-pr. In the body of the message write: subscribe (name of listserver) (your name). Example: subscribe water-pr joe smith.