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Rock debris swept by hot waves onto lava delta during collapse

Detailed Description

Caught by a time-lapse camera, collapse of East Lae‘apuki lava delta in the early morning hours of August 27, 2005, generated waves that swept large lava fragments onto the delta. Daylight revealed boulders as large as 1 m (3 ft) in diameter on the surviving delta surface directly beneath the camera. The waves were probably scalding hot as the seawater mixed with extremely hot lava rocks as they collapsed into the sea.