Pressure growing beneath Kilauea’s Puu Oo cone could lead to new vent, lava flow

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory is reporting that the magma system beneath Kilauea’s Puu Oo cone has become increasingly pressurized, leading scientists to believe a new vent and lava flow may be imminent.

Steven Brantley, deputy scientist in charge at the observatory, said Wednesday that measurements over the past month have led to the conclusion that a new vent soon could form.

“The cone is extremely hazardous and could be flooded at any time,” Brantley said.

The vent could form at the cone or in adjacent areas along Kilauea’s east rift zone, he said, but it’s impossible to say exactly where and to where it might flow.

The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory issued a Volcano Activity Notice warning of the potential volcanic activity on Tuesday.

Since about mid-March, a tiltmeter and GPS station at Puu Oo have recorded inflation of the cone, and recent webcam images have recorded an uplift of the crater floor by several yards, the notice said.

It appears that magma is accumulating at shallow depths beneath the cone, Brantley said.

He said scientists believe a new vent soon could form because similar episodes of inflation and uplift at Puu Oo preceded the last vents that opened up — in May and June 2014, which produced the June 27 flow that threatened Pahoa; and in May 2016, which produced a flow that is still active.

Although the area around the cone is closed by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, some people still venture up there.

“This is a really bad time to go out to Puu Oo,” Brantley said.

If a new flow is similar to recent vent openings, the lava will gush out of cracks in the ground, moving quickly for a few hours to days and eventually settling on one vent and the formation of a lava tube as the molten lava makes its way downhill, the scientist said.

Kilauea’s eruption began in January 1983 with high lava fountains that built a cinder-and-spatter cone, later named Puu Oo. Over the years, lava from the volcano has destroyed towns and subdivisions, cut roads and engulfed beaches.

A new vent that opened on the northeast flank of Puu Oo on June 27, 2014, sent lava northeast across more than 12 miles before stopping in March 2015.

On May 24, 2016, the opening of a new vent on the east flank of Puu Oo cut off the June 27 vent and flow and sent a new stream of lava, named the 61g flow, southeast toward the ocean. Although it stopped flowing to the ocean in November, it continues in a remote area above the Pulama pali.