Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Inactive perched lava pond and the new lava tube

Detailed Description

After the June 27 breakout started, a perched lava pond - looking something like a giant above-ground swimming pool - grew over the main vent. Notice the nearly flat upper surface of the now-inactive pond just above and to the left of center, and the relatively steep levee which contained the pond. The pond was abandoned after lava broke from a new spot near the west edge of the pond. That flow has begun constructing a lava tube, its trace marked by the fume to the right of the perched pond. The view is toward the southeast.