bob@uhccux.UUCP (Bob Cunningham) (07/09/87)
Lava from Kilaua Volcano's eruption continues to spill out of the active vent and onto the growing shield formation at the 2,200' elevation since last week's collapse of part of the lava tube complex which was funneling the lava to the seashore. This is the sixth straight day of lava movement on and around the vent, with no activity anywhere else along the eruption's established 7-mile long avenue down the mountainside to the ocean near Kalapana. It is not known whether the tube blockage is permanent. If it is, the erupting lava might simply build the shield formation upslope for some time. Lava production appears to remain the same as it has for nearly a year---about 650,000 cubic meters of molten rock a day. That molten rock is being pushed around the shield in short flows, the longest of which is about 1km long. Yesterday was the 356th straight day of activity in the eruption's 48th phase. The eruption itself began 3 Jan 1983. Cumulative damage is 48 homes, one (abandoned) church, and a total of about $15 million worth of damage.
bob@uhmanoa.UUCP (Bob Cunningham) (12/27/87)
Lava has been flowing into the ocean for several days now, the new surface flows having wound their way down from the higher elevations. The lava is streaming into the ocean along the eastern boundary of Hawaii Volcanoes National park. The Park Service is keeping visitors at a distance, the area near the flows into the ocean is very, very hot. Nearby, two homes in the Kapa'ahua Homesteads area (makai of the Kalapana Bypass Highway, about two miles soutwest of Kalapana) are threatened by lava. This was the fifth successive Christmas Day that Kilauea has been in eruption. The eruption series, which has claimed 57 homes, begins its sixth year on 3 January 1988. -- Bob Cunningham bob@loihi.hig.hawaii.edu