Lava flows cover Puʻu Kahaualeʻa
Pu’u Kahauale’a has been buried slowly by the Pu‘u O‘o eruption over the years, and the ongoing June 27th flow has nearly finished the job. This photo shows Pu’u Kahauale’a on Friday. Only the highest parts of Pu’u Kahauale’a's twin craters remain.
The most distant active tip of the June 27th flow, visible at the left edge of the photo, was about 5.3 miles from Puu Oo Friday. This lobe of the flow intersected an old lava tube earlier in the week that transported lava a short distance downslope, where it emerged from skylights to make several small isolated pads of lava (seen in the center of the photo).
Pu‘u Kahauale‘a has been buried slowly by the Pu‘u O‘o eruption over the years, and the ongoing June 27th flow has nearly finished the job. This photo taken on June 30, 2014 shows Pu‘u Kahauale‘a, just after a lava flow began on June 27.
The twin craters of the old Puʻu Kahaualeʻa cone, northeast of Puʻu O’o vent, are almost gone, nearly buried by various flows since the Puʻu O’o eruption began on Jan. 3, 1983.
The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory released photos of Puʻu Kahaualeʻa, covered by a patch of trees, taken in June, shortly after the latest flow began on June 27th; and another photo taken Friday, which shows only the very top of the twin craters remaining.
Lava has been covering Puʻu Kahaualeʻa since a flow began in the area, about 1.2 miles northeast of Puʻu O’o, on March 9.
The March flows effectively diverted lava supply to flows threatening Pahoa, ending, for now, the threat of the town being cut off by lava.
In a volcano update Saturday, observatory scientists said surface flows continue to be active northeast of Puʻu O’o.
The furthest flow from the vent was about 5.3 miles from Puʻu O’o and burning an area of forest brush.
