August 30, 2022 — Collecting Rock Samples on Ta‘ū Island

A USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologist collects a sample of a pāhoehoe lava flow above a thick ‘a‘ā lava flow on Ta‘ū Island, American Samoa. At that location, samples of a sequence of alternating pāhoehoe and ‘a‘ā lava flows were sampled to help reconstruct the eruptive history of Ta‘ū volcano. HVO staff are in American Samoa responding to earthquake activity. While there to install monitoring instrumentation, they are also collecting some rock samples to better understand past volcanic activity in American Samoa. USGS image by J. Chang.