The Return of the Lava

I suppose the lava never really left, but I was inspired by the amazing original VHS copy of Star Wars #6 that resides in the USGS dorm...Remember the days of VHS? I do.

In other news, I may have lost my camera at the summit of Mauna Loa from my epic camping trip earlier this week (which will be a post at some point, I promise), so for now I can't post pictures of my weekend adventures. A narrative will have to suffice.

The lava flows on the coast near Kalapana that are fed by Pu`u O`o have been incredibly active this past week, despite a deflation-inflation (DI) event last weekend that threatened to halt the downslope movement of the surface flows.

Earlier in the summer I went with my CSAV class to experience the lava for the first time, which involved an arduous uphill hike over tumuli in the intense heat of the early afternoon. However, last Sunday morning when I went out (with a certified HVO scientist, of course) the hike was an easy 5 minutes to get to the active flows. We mapped the fresh lobes with the GPS, walked over the flow that had cooled the day before, and then collected a few samples for ourselves. The flow was sluggish at the time, but over the next few days it moved about 400m towards the trailhead and the tourist viewing area.


Don't worry, I didn't actually eat my sample. The flows are actually quite a hazard, potentially, because they are encroaching on a forested kipuka and may cause serious forest fires. Also, the tourists might be able to see the flows from the viewing area, so the number of ignorant trespassers will likely triple in the next few days.

Here's Sarah K., Katie, me, and Sarah S. excited about lava!


The HVO scientists are predicting that the lava will actually reach the ocean because the flows are tubed (aka insulated) on the slope of the pali. Therefore, they can travel much greater distances than if they were exposed to the air.

Now, my lovely lava video.




All photos and movie footage are the property of the USGS.

Grad School Blues

It's hard to believe that I'm still in the process of contacting potential advisors and trying to sort out the geologic topics that interest me.

Today I contacted professors from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks for volcanology and geochronology, so hopefully I'll hear back soon. I could see myself really enjoying Alaska, despite the dark winters. Although it's easy to say that now that I'm accustomed to a tropical paradise...

Nature is Cyclic

The last Saturday of September (the 26th) was a pretty spectacular day for Pele and Halema`uma`u, but I got so caught up in other things that I failed to update my captivated readers to let y'all know what was going on.

Here's the deal:
The volcano is constantly uplifting and subsiding - I think of it as breathing - and this motion is reflected in the tilt deformation stations at the summit (and at Pu`u O`o). When there's a distinct change in deformation we define it as a DI (deflation-inflation) event.

On Saturday (the 26th) there was a prolonged and exaggerated DI event where the lava lake level beneath the crust dropped for an unusually long period of time, so much so that the hardened crust was left hanging - literally - and crashed down to the surface of the lava. The collapse produced a robust brown ashy plume, and it was the largest event that has happened since October of last year.

The next cool thing to happen was the cyclic filling and draining of the lava lake that was suddenly and violently exposed to the air and unprotected by a cool crust. The cycle was on the order of a few hours, although in the past it has been as fast as 3 minutes! Click on this link to see the cyclic draining/filling of the lava lake.

On Friday night Katie and I were able to go out to the caldera (with a qualified HVO scientist, of course) to view the lava pond for ourselves. Unfortunately it wasn't quite as exciting as other nights from last week because we caught it during the end of the draining/beginning of the filling state so there was more bad gas than usual and the lake level was lower. I also couldn't get any good pictures because of the lighting. Still, I enjoyed it, as always.

The lake disappeared (aka drained away) on Saturday morning and was gone until Monday morning. Maybe it had something to do with the full moon?

EARTHQUAKE

I just felt an earthquake for the first time! At 05:32 HST, a magnitude 2.7 earthquake occurred 1 km E of Kilauea summit at a depth of 1.6 km, and it shook my bed and rattled our blinds for a second. Enough to wake me up, anyway.

Ok, back to bed.

Update: In my weary blurry-eyed confused state this morning I failed to realize that 1 km E of the summit is approximately under my house. Craziness.