Fissure 8’s spatter cone is as tall as Aloha Tower
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Fountains from the fissure 8 spatter cone continued to supply lava to an open channel Saturday above the former village of Kapoho on the Big Island. The spatter cone is now about 180 feet tall at its highest point, with fountaining rarely rising above its rim.
The Hawaii volcano that’s been erupting in a residential neighborhood for the past two months has built a cone that’s now about the height of 10-story Aloha Tower.
U.S. Geological Survey scientists said Monday the cone is 180 feet high at its tallest point. Honolulu Harbor’s Aloha Tower reaches 184 feet.
The cone developed from the most active of the two dozen vents Kilauea Volcano opened in and around the Leilani Estates neighborhood on the Big Island.
Scientists call it fissure 8 because it was the eighth vent to open during the eruption. It’s feeding a river of lava that’s flowing downhill to the ocean.
The eruption has destroyed over 600 homes since May 3. Thousands of residents have had to evacuate.
