IPFS News Link • Geology
Crater Wall Collapsing Into Lava Lake Creates A Beautiful Explosion [Gallery]
• http://www.popsci.com, By Mary Beth GriggsLast week, we showed you what happens when a rock falls into a lava lake. But that only raises the question, what happens when more rocks fall into a lava lake? Kilauea is here to sate your curiosity.
The Hawaiian volcano, whose lava flows disrupted the life of a town just a few months ago, is now capturing attention for its lava spurting out in a different location--its summit. In the middle of Halema'uma'u Crater, a lava lake has been steadily rising since April 22, spilling out onto the crater floor last week.
That's exciting enough, but on Sunday, part of the crater wall managed a perfect slam dunk into the lava lake, throwing fist sized globs of lava 280 feet in the air and creating an impressive plume of ash.