Hawaii Volcanoes Photo Gallery

Pu`u `O`o - Kupaianaha Eruption of Kilauea Volcano - September 24, 1999

 Photographs by S.R. Brantley, USGS
photo and caption credit
 U.S. Department of Interior, U.S. Geological Survey

The leading edge of this pahoehoe flow is about 150-200 m from where lava is breaking out from the lava tube. Pu`u `O`o (background) is about 2.5 km away. This is only one of many flows that formed when lava began leaking from the tube immediately after the end of a 12-day pause in the eruption.

The breakouts resulted from dams or blockages within the tube system. During the pause, the roof and walls of the tube collapsed, creating many blockages. When lava again entered the tube on September 23, it was forced onto the surface upstream of the blockages, forming new surface flows.

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