October 2001 summary of the eruption of Kilauea Volcano, Hawai`i

2 October 2001

Bench develops at new Kamoamoa ocean entry

View looking east across growing lava bench at Kamoamoa just after sunset on October 2 (compare with left image on September 30 at 0559). Several streams of lava pour across the new bench into the sea.

Lava pours from new bench into ocean at Kamoamoa, Kilauea volcano, Hawai`i

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5 October 2001

Kamoamoa ocean entry chugs along

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Lava feeding the east bench at Kamoamoa. Left: Lava cascade plunges over upper part of sea cliff at 0603 on a dark morning. Cascade is about 6 m long. Right: Lava flow on surface of bench fed by the cascade at 0605. View looks down about 10 m to top of bench.

0606. Looking down onto bench from the top of the cascade shown above. Lava in the cascade disappears from view as it starts to fall, then becomes visible once it is moving across the bench.

Top of lava cascade and flow it feeds on east bench of Kamoamoa, Kilauea volcano, Hawai`i

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0610. At about daybreak, the full lava cascade, the falls below, and the lava fan being built onto bench, can be seen in context.

Lava cascade, falls, and fan at Kamoamoa ocean entry, Kilauea volcano, Hawai`i

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Lava feeding the west bench at Kamoamoa. Left: Lava falls feeds short flow at 0617 in view looking east. The east bench is behind the point of the old sea cliff in the upper right. The falls is about 6-8 m high. Right: Streams of lava pour into the Pacific at the leading edge of the bench at 0620.

0624. Looking east across the new west bench at Kamoamoa. The bench is about 115 m long parallel to the coast and extends 30 m or more seaward. Note the sandy beach constructed at the west end of the bench. Compare with with the image taken at 0559 on September 30 to see the tremendous growth of the bench.

West bench of Kamoamoa, Kilauea volcano, Hawai`i

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0628. A pahoehoe toe in the flow feeding the entry illustrates its mode of advance. Lava oozes from under its crust. Pieces of glass from the underlying flow are caught up at the front of the toe, rafted to the top, and stuck in the developing crust on top of the ooze. The shreds sticking above the crust of the toe in this view are pieces of the underlying flow.

Oozing pahoehoe toe in flow feeding Kamoamoa ocean entry, Kilauea volcano, Hawai`i

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0700. Time to leave the entry site. Three squalls drenched the photographer as the above photos were taken, but in Hawai`i there is a rainbow behind each one. In the large view, check for the double bow.

Rainbow above flow feeding Kamoamoa ocean entry, Kilauea volcano, Hawai`i

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8 October 2001

Changes at Kamoamoa ocean entry

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Left: Glow above new lava cascade onto western part of west bench. Right: Undercut east bench, now inactive and being destroyed by waves.

Lava cascading down top of old sea cliff to bench below. This is one of three different places spilling lava onto the western part of the west bench. The eastern part of the west bench is inactive.

Lava cascade starting down sea cliff onto west bench of Kamoamoa, Kilauea volcano, Hawai`i

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Sluggish breakouts ooze onto surface of western part of west bench, and lava flows into the water at the leading edge of the bench.

Breakouts and entries on Kamoamoa bench, Kilauea volcano, Hawai`i

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Lava dribbles onto west bench at sunrise. Note the black sand beach forming beyond the pahoehoe, with laze blowing along shore.

Lava dribbles onto bench at sunrise, Kilauea volcano, Hawai`i

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10 October 2001

Beach now fronts Kamoamoa ocean entry

Looking east along the west bench of the Kamoamoa entry. Note the steep black sand beach at the leading edge of the bench. Small active lava cascade is just above and to left of center of view.

West bench of Kamoamoa entry fronted by black sand beach, Kilauea volcano, Hawai`i

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Map of flows from Pu`u `O`o: September 2001

Map shows lava flows erupted during the 1983-present activity of Pu`u `O`o and Kupaianaha (see large map). The flows active from December 17, 2000 through September 30, 2001 are shown in red; the west flow is indicated by the cross-hatched red flow that enters the ocean at Kamoamoa.

Most of the recent flows are fed from breakout points at 1920-1700 feet, above Pulama pali in the northern part of the large red area. Lava re-entered the sea near Kamokuna (just east of Kamoamoa) on January 21, 2001, but soon stopped when activity shifted from the western to the eastern branch of the flow. Since then, activity has been divided between the eastern and western branches. Breakouts from the eastern tube system have destroyed hundreds of meters of the Royal Gardens access road.

Lava has been entering the ocean and building a large bench at East Kupapa`u since April 25. A tiny trickle of lava fed through the western tube system dripped into the water just east of Kamoamoa on May 31 but stopped within a day. Since then, all lava entering the sea had gone through the East Kupapa`u entry until September 28-29, when the new entry at Kamoamoa started.

Eruption-viewing opportunities change constantly, so refer to this page often. Those readers planning a visit to Kilauea or Mauna Loa volcanoes can get much useful information from Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park; be sure to click on the IN-DEPTH button.

The URL of this page is http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/multimedia/archive/2000/Oct/
Contact: hvowebmaster@usgs.gov
Updated: 24 October 2001 (DAS)