This aerial view of Kilauea Iki shows the crater in 1948. Crater Rim Drive is on the top, left margin, and bottom of the photo. Kilauea Iki Overlook is on Crater Rim Drive and shown in the bottom-center of the photo. Photograph courtesy of the U.S. Navy. Figure 4 of Richter and others (1970).
The Kilauea Iki eruption began on the morning of November 14, 1959, three months after a rapid increase in inflation of the ground surface and the number and size of earthquakes.
The eruption started halfway up the 600-650 foot (180-200 m) south wall of the crater as a curtain of fire a half-a-mile (0.8 km) long. Lava was ejected up to 100 feet (30 m) in the air. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey.
By the next afternoon, activity was at a single vent at the west end of the fissure. This photo was taken from the Kilauea Iki Overlook and shows the vent for the eruption and lava flowing to the floor of the crater. Photo courtesy of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
This view of the vent is from the west floor of the crater. Note the volcanologists on the bottom right. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey, 6:42 am, November 15, 1959.
As the eruption continued, lava poured down the wall of the crater and the lava lake grew larger and deeper. This view of the lava lake is from Byron Ledge. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey, November 15, 1959.
As the eruption continued, both the rate the lava extruded from the vent and the size of the lava fountain increased. From Kilauea Iki Overlook the lava channel that led from the vent to the lava lake was clearly visible. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey, November 17, 1959.
The first phase of the eruption continued for seven days, until the crater was half-filled with lava and the level of the lava lake reached the height of the vent. The lava lake was 335 feet (102 m) deep and contained 40 million cubic yards (30 million cubic meters) of lava. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey.
During the second phase of the eruption, lava spilled from the lava lake in the deeper east crater and began to flow into the west crater. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey.
After many eruption episodes the unstable walls of the growing cinder cone collapsed into the lava lake. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey.
The eruption continued for 4 more weeks and included 16 additional eruptive phases. Each eruptive phase produced a lava fountain. The views of the fountain and lava lake at night were spectacular. Photograph by Jerry Eaton, U.S. Geological Survey, 6:30 pm, December 5, 1959.
A lava fountain is a jet of incandescent lava shot into the air as the magma reaches the surface by the pressure on the liquid from the expansion of gas bubbles forming in the magma. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey.
During the Kilauea Iki eruption the height of the lava fountain was usually about 1,000 feet (330 m). During one eruptive phase the fountain reached a height of 1,900 feet (580 m), a record for historic eruptions in Hawaii. Lava fountains ranged in duration from 2 to 32 hours. During the 16th phase, lava was ejected at a rate of 1,600,000 cubic yards per hour (1,200,000 cubic meters per hour). Each eruptive phase stopped shortly after the level of the lava lake reached the elevation of the vent. Activity ceased on December 20, 1959. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey.
This aerial view of Kilauea Iki shows the crater on December 24, 1959. Crater Rim Drive is on the top, left margin, and bottom of the photo. Kilauea Iki Overlook is on Crater Rim Drive and in the bottom-left of the photo. Photograph courtesy of the National Park Service. Figure 4 of Richter and others (1970).
The summit of Kilauea volcano continued to inflate as it received magma from greater depths. On January 13, 1960, an eruption began near the town of Kapoho and continued to February 20.
The Kilauea Iki eruption was, at that time, the most detailed study of eruptive activity ever at a Hawaiian volcano. Earthquakes, volcanic tremor, tilting of the ground, rate of lava extrusion, lava fountain height, and the temperature, chemistry, and petrography of the lava were recorded almost continuously. These methods are still used today to predict eruptions and to better understand the inner workings of volcanoes and how they erupt.
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