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Peering Into Kīlauea Volcano's Maw At Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park

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By Kurt Repanshek - January 10th, 2023
Kīlauea volcano eruption January 6, 2023/USGS

"As the lava reaches the lake's surface, it immediately begins to cool and radiates away from the source. This cooled lava forms thin plates made of lava crust, which grows and extends as it continues to be pushed away. When the thin plates radiating away from two sources meet, a line or ring of spattering will occur as they interact. This process is similar to what happens when two tectonic plates converge." -- USGS

Earth art, the natural kind, is on display at Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park where the renewed eruption of the Kīlaeau volcano is flashing artworks worthy of your living room wall.

Some of the beauty of the latest eruption, which started January 5, was captured by crews from the U.S. Geological Survey.

Kīlauea lava fountains/USGS

View of eastern half of lava lake within Halema‘uma‘u, Kīlauea summit, in the early morning of January 6, 2023. In this view looking north, four active lava fountains are visible, three in the center of the photo and one in the middle right (smaller). The dark area in the left center of the photo is the main island, formed during the December 2020 eruption; lava did not cover the northern (top) part of the island and so it appears dark/USGS, N. Deligne.

Lava fountain at Kīlauea volcano/USGS

This image, taken early on January 6th, shows a lava fountain on the eastern portion of Halema‘uma‘u. Numerous areas of upwelling, like the one pictured here, are actively feeding the lava lake and re-surfacing material that was emplaced from activity in 2022. This fountain measured 16-33 feet in height (5-10 meters)/USGS

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