Wooden fence on edge of Halema‘uma‘u Overlook area damaged by explo...

The explosion occurred at 2:58 a.m. HST on March 19, 2008. The explosion scattered rock debris over an area of about 30 hectares (75 acres), covering a portion of Crater Rim Drive and damaging Halema‘uma‘u Overlook. The wooden fence of the overlook was bombarded by rocks hurled onto the rim of Halema‘uma‘u crater from the fumarolic area. Nearly every rock on the surface in this photo was deposited by the explosion. The largest block to land in this area sas almost a meter (yard) across. The explosion produced a small crater along the east wall of Halema?uma?u that is about 20-30 meters (65-100 feet) in diameter. This was the first explosion in Halema‘uma‘u crater since 1924 and the first eruption of any kind in K?lauea caldera since September 1982.