March 6, 2025 — Damage from a lava bomb ejected during episode 12 lava fountaining

USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) collects tephra from lava fountaining in buckets. Each bucket has a weight inside to prevent high winds from blowing the bucket away; some of these weights are milk jugs filled with sand. On March 6, HVO staff discovered a lava bomb from the episode 12 lava fountains pierced and partially melted a milk-jug-weight in a bucket located several hundred yards west of the western rim of Halema‘uma‘u. USGS photo by N. Deligne.