Summit and East Rift Zone
1952 - 1968
The 1952 eruption of Kilauea was at Halemaumau and lasted 136 days. It
marked the onset of the current cycle of activity that includes a shift
to the East Rift Zone at the main location of eruptive activity.
1955
With the exceptions of two eruptions that lasted less than one day,
Kilauea had not erupted on its East Rift Zone since 1840. This changed
on the morning of February 28, 1955, when a line of fissures opened
across the Pahoa-Pohoiki Road. Photograph by Take Kanemori, February 28,
1955. Photograph courtesy of U.S. Geological Survey.
During the 1955 eruption 26 vents formed on the lower East Rift Zone.
Lava from some vents traveled down to the ocean. This photo shows the
lava fountain at the Iilewa vent. The fountain is about 150 feet (50 m)
high. Photograph by Gordon Macdonald, U.S. Geological Survey, March 22,
1955.
1959
In
late 1959,
spectacular lava fountains filled part of Kilauea Iki Crater and formed
the Puu Puai cinder cone.
1960
Following the 1959 summit eruption at Kilauea Iki, an eruption commenced
on January 13, 1960, on the lower East Rift Zone near the town of Kapoho.
The eruption lasted 36 days and buried about 2 square miles (5.6 square
km) of land including most of the town of Kapoho. Photograph courtesy of
the U.S. Geological Survey.
Curtain of fire
and
spatter rampart
at the main vent
of the Kapoho eruption. Papaya trees in the foreground. Photograph
courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey.
Bulldozers were used during the Kapoho eruption to build barriers that
successfully slowed the southward advance of lava.Photograph courtesy of
the U.S. Geological Survey.
Three eruptions occurred at Halemaumau in 1961. The longest eruption
lasted only 22 days. Activity returned to East Rift Zone in 1961 with
an eruption that lasted only 3 days. Five more eruptions occurred on the
East Rift Zone between 1962-1965. Most of these eruptions lasted only
1-2 days.
1967-1968
Since the 1924 explosive eruption, Halemaumau has been gradually filling
with lava from numerous short-lived eruptions. The longest of these
eruptions lasted about eight months from 1967-1968. It was the
longest-lived lava lake at Halemaumau since 1919. It was also the most
recent year that a long-lived lava lake has occupied Halemaumau.
Photograph by R.S. Fiske, U.S. Geological Survey, December 1967.
1968
Activity returned to the East Rift Zone on August 22, 1968. The
eruption
lasted 5 days and produced lava at numerous vents scattered 12 miles (20
km) down the rift. In October of 1968 an eruption near
Napau Crater
lasted 15 days. Photograph by D.A. Swanson, U.S. Geological Survey,
October 8, 1968.
