Lava flow stalls but threat remains

The head of a lava flow from Kilauea Volcano pointed at Hawaii island’s Pahoa town remained stalled Tuesday, but volcano scientists have no reason to believe the threat has ended.

"What is happening now is just a pahoe­­hoe flow being a pahoe­hoe flow," said Janet Babb, a geologist and spokes­woman for the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. "They will advance and then sometimes slow down or stall. The flow is still active and lava is still being supplied, because we’re seeing breakouts above and behind the flow front. That tells us that lava is still being supplied."

The 100-yard-wide front of the flow remained about 1.4 miles upslope of Apaa Street on the outskirts of Pahoa. It has advanced about 10.2 miles from its source at Puu Oo crater.

"It has not moved significantly since last Friday," Babb said.

Volcano scientists had theorized that the stall was the result of Kilauea running out of lava. But the so-called "breakouts" of lava above and behind the front of the flow route tell scientists that Kilauea is still churning out lava.

"Some indicators on the volcano suggest that there might have been some reduction in the supply of lava to the flow," Babb said. "But this is all behavior that we’ve seen through the 31-year-plus history of this eruption."

Scientists plan to make another flyover Wednesday which is expected to produce new maps of the flow and possibly video.