Hawaii 5-Blow! Kilauea Eruption Enters New Phase

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1||March 7, 2011: On March 5, the spatter cone PuÊ»u ʻŌʻō on Kilauea flank began to rapidly deflate along with Kilauea’s summit. The subsequent quick drain of magma pushed PuÊ»u ʻŌʻō’s crater floor to collapse causing a new eruption from a fissure between Napau Crater and PuÊ»u ʻŌʻō. Shown here, clouds of ash billow out as Pu`u `Ō `ō’s crater floor collapses from magma withdrawal. ||USGS&&

2||Lava leaps up to heights of 10 meters from Kilauea’s newly opened fissure segment. Kilauea, one of the most active volcanoes in the world, is the youngest volcano on the big island of Hawaii.||USGS&&

3||An aerial view of the fissure eruption shows ash and smoke enveloping surrounding foliage.||USGS&&

4||In an eruption of incandescent orange and black, this large fissure, which began March 6, spews spatter and lava flows to char nearby trees.||USGS&&

5||Pu`u `Ō `ō has been continually erupting since 1983. Here, a piece of the old floor can be seen in the background of its collapsing crater.||USGS&&

6||Massive amounts of lava cascades from the fissure, only to surge back down into a nearby crack.||USGS&&

7||Lava breaking the surface at the northeast end of Kilauea’s new fissure.||USGS&&

8||The ejections from this relatively small fissure reach 20 meters in height.||USGS&&

9||The lion’s share of the activity on March 6 centered on this vent, to the southwest of Pu`u `Ō `ō.||USGS&&

10||Lava sprays above a fissure to the west of Pu`u `Ō `ō’s base.||USGS&&

11||Lava spatter leaps over the tree line as flames lick a line through a grove surrounding the new fissure eruption southwest of Pu`u `Ō `ō.||USGS&&

12||The fissure west of Pu`u `Ō `ō crater boasted spatter at heights of 40 meters.||USGS&&

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