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6 January 2006

East Lae`apuki lava delta and Petunia skylight

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Left. Looking east across lava delta at East Lae`apuki. Note the cracks cutting the outer part of the delta. The cracks have formed in the last week or two as the delta has grown larger and become more unstable. Similar cracks cut the delta before its wholesale collapse on November 28, 2005. Steam (laze) rises at points where lava is entering the water. 0910.  Right. Pretty Petunia skylight in roof of PKK lava tube, upper part of PKK flow. View looks downstream. Some of the  lava visible through the skylight will eventually end up at East Lae`apuki 1-2 hr later. 1122.

13 January 2006

East Lae`apuki lava delta

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Left. Looking northeast across lava delta at East Lae`apuki. Note smooth, new surface on near part of delta, created when lava welled from cracks a couple of days ago. These cracks are shown in first image for January 6. Note also that most of delta front is source of laze; this is because lava pours into the water at many places. 0905. Right. Looking west at lava delta, showing how it nestles against cliff bounding embayment. Much of the cliff was created during collapse of earlier lava delta and adjacent "mainland" on November 28. As such, only part of the cliff is a true "sea cliff," formed by erosion. 0907.

20 January 2006

Shatter ring, dirty water, and MLK vent

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Left. Shatter ring at big bend in PKK lava tube (foreground). Northeast trade wind blows fume emitted from cracks in roof of tube farther upstream. Pu`u `O`o in background. 0958. Right. Closer view of shatter ring in left image. Shatter rings from by repeated uplift and subsidence of large tumulus in roof of lava tube. The multiple up and down movements break (shatter) the solidified lava into small, jagged pieces that look darker than their surroundings owing to destruction of originally shiny, glassy crust . This shatter ring is several tens of meters wide. 0959.

30 January 2006

MLK vent, skylights, and lava on Pulama pali

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Left. Fairly recent lava with crust in main crater at MLK vent. Note incandescent hole on far floor of crater. 1218. Right. Two skylights through roof of PKK lava tube south of Pu`u `O`o. Trade wind blows fume southwestward from skylights. 1126.

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Left. Lava flow headed downslope (toward camera) on Pulama pali. Shiny flows are pahoehoe, and dark are `a`a. The moving lava is solidifying to `a`a at its front. 1229. Right. Breakout of lava on Pulama pali from small tube near top of image. Numerous breakouts such as this occur along two narrow tubes on the pali to form ribbon flows readily visible at night from end of Chain of Craters Road. 1237.

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Left. Discolored water, laden with sand and silt, off front of East Lae`apuki lava delta. The sediment, mainly formed when lava quenches to glass and shatters upon contact with water, is carried southwestward by long-shore currents. Some is deposited in embayments to form pocket beaches, which erode away with each storm. 1033. Right. MLK vent area, mostly a crater, is unstable, as shown by cracks and sags. Pu`u `O`o, in background, is cut by steep cracks and gentler foot-trails. 1133.

Map of flows from Pu`u `O`o: 19 December 2005

Map shows lava flows erupted during 1983-present activity of Pu`u `O`o and Kupaianaha (see large map).

Yellow, brown, and red colors indicate lava flows erupted from October 2003 to December 16, 2005. Yellow indicates the currently active Kuhio (PKK) flow, active most of the time from March 20, 2004 to the present. The east and west arms of the PKK flow, once widely separated, began to merge and overlap on the coastal flat in March 2005. The east arm feeds the East Lae`apuki ocean entry. Activity on the west arm declined through mid-August, and the last surface flow on that arm was observed on August 21. The recent (November-December 2005) breakouts on Pulama pali described as "eastern" and "western" are all on the east arm of the PKK flow.

The brown shade denotes Martin Luther King (MLK ) flows, which first erupted in January 2004 from flank vents on the south slope of Pu`u `O`o. Since then, several more vents have formed in the MLK area and continue to erupt intermittently.

Red indicates the Mother's Day and Banana flows, last active in September 2004. Short flows from the crater, West Gap, and Puka Nui vents are also shown in red. In recent months, only the Puka Nui vent has produced infrequent, small flows.

Map of Pu`u `O`o and vicinity: 19 December 2005

Map shows vents, lava flows, and other features near Pu`u `O`o frequently referred to in updates (see large map). These features can change quickly, but this map should help those viewers lost in the terminology. The vents, lava tubes, and flows active in 2005 include the numbered vents in the crater, the MLK vent complex and associated flows, the Puka Nui vent, and the upper Kuhio (PKK) tube, which feeds the lava flows eventually reaching the ocean.