Lava oozed from a new location on Kilauea, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, scientists said Tuesday (June 19).
Researchers on the Big Island had been on the lookout for a new lava breakout point after hundreds of small earthquakes were recorded Sunday (June 17), suggesting magma, or underground lava, was shifting beneath the surface.
The small outbreak oozed about 150 feet from a 600-foot-long fissure in a forest about eight miles southeast of Kilauea’s summit, the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said on its Web site. When a field crew arrived, lava was moving sluggishly and the fissure was emitting heavy smoke and steam.
Part of the park on the Big Island remained closed to protect public safety while researchers examined the latest lava breakout. By the time the crew left four hours later, the lava had stopped flowing and the smoke and steam had decreased significantly.
Kilauea has been erupting continuously since Jan. 3, 1983, sending lava from the Pu’u ‘O’o cone
through a system of tubes to the ocean where it forms new land over time.
In Hawaiian tradition, Kilauea is home to Pele, the volcano goddess. Lava is said to be her physical representation.
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