Lava tube bubble bursts on the East Lae‘apuki lava delta

Preview image for video: (May 29, 2006, 10:45:46 to 19:30:49)
The interaction of sea water and lava creates a volatile situation (Mattox and Mangan, 1997). When this happens inside the confined space of a lava tube, or a narrow, water-filled crack, the results can be impressive. In this movie, lava bubbles, bursting from the top of the PKK lava tube, put on quite a show for several hours. Some of the larger bubble bursts are estimated to have reached heights in excess of 20 meters. The bubble bursts occurred about 350 meters away from the camera. At that distance, a person would be smaller than the watermark characters. As lava flowed away from the site of the bubble bursts, it entered a water-filled crack to the right of center frame, causing additional spattering.

Though the cause of this activity is unknown, the most plausible explanation is that settling of the seaward portion of the delta opened or widened water-bearing cracks that crossed the delta, like that mentioned above. Such cracks would have intersected the lava tube carrying lava to the ocean and allowed seawater to gain direct access to the lava stream.

The images that make up this movie were acquired by a time-lapse camera located on the older sea cliff on the east side of the delta. The images were cropped to highlight the activity.

Movie Details:
File size = 34.5 MB
Image interval = 1 minute
Playback speed = 10 frames/sec
Movie duration = 00:00:53

Camera Coordinates (WGS84):
Lat: 19.3133º
Long: -155.0555º
View direction = ~248º