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Explosive Images: Hawaii's Kilauea Erupts for 30 Years

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Pahoehoe flow

volcano facts, volcano eruptions

(Image credit: USGS.)

A small active pahoehoe flow overplating an older a'a flow on the coastal plain below Pu'u O'o crater in Hawaii. Taken Feb. 25, 2010. Pahoehoe is smooth, basaltic lava that flows forward in lobes, while a'a has a rougher surface made up of broken lava blocks.

New land

volcano facts, volcano eruptions

(Image credit: USGS.)

Lava enters the ocean in May 2010 from the Kalapana flow at Kilauea volcano in Hawaii.

Lava sampling

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(Image credit: USGS.)

A geologist taking a sample on July 14, 2010, from a recently formed skylight on the Quarry flow lava tube. The Quarry lava flow began in 2010.

Burning palms

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(Image credit: USGS.)

A 3-foot-wide (1 meter) channel feeds a lava surge that broke out from an active flow in the Kalapana Gardens subdivision near Kilauea volcano, sending a fast-moving but relatively small flow through coconut palms in late July 2010.

Lava exiting lava tube

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(Image credit: T. Orr, USGS)

Lava exited a tube at the sea cliff near Kalapana and poured out into the ocean at a growing lava delta. Photo taken July 26, 2010.

Halema'uma'u rock fall plume

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(Image credit: USGS.)

This image of a dusty plume produced by rocks collapsing from the wall of Halema'uma'u Crater was captured by a time-lapse camera on Dec. 21, 2011.

Kilauea volcano from space

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(Image credit: NASA Earth Observatory.)

The Advanced Land Imager on NASA's Earth Observing-1 satellite snapped this image of Hawaii's Kilauea volcano on Jan. 28, 2012. The natural-color view shows Halema'uma'u crater and Pu'u O'o crater.

Halema'uma'u Crater surge

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(Image credit: USGS/National Park Service)

View of the lava lake in Halema'uma'u crater on Oct. 22, 2012. The next day, the lake hit its highest level since the vent opened up in March 2008.

Becky Oskin
Becky Oskin
Contributing Writer
Becky Oskin covers Earth science, climate change and space, as well as general science topics. Becky was a science reporter at Live Science and The Pasadena Star-News; she has freelanced for New Scientist and the American Institute of Physics. She earned a master's degree in geology from Caltech, a bachelor's degree from Washington State University, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz.