Images

Though difficult to photograph, aerial views showed that this open vent was but a small window into a large, hot cavity beneath Puʻu ʻŌʻō's northeast flank in Hawaii Inside, streams of lava from an unseen source (or sources) closer to the crater rim (visible at lower right) were cascading toward the upper left into unknown depths.

The active surface flow from Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō is still advancing slowly downslope and was 4.4 km (2.7 miles) long when mapped today. Averaged over the past six days, the flow has been advancing at a rate of about 200 m (220 yards) per day.

Several vents have opened on Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō's northeast flank since last December. A spatter cone grew over one of the vents in mid-May and is visible at the center of the photo emitting bluish fume. In recent weeks, a vent opened upslope from (to the left of) the spatter cone, revealing bright incandescence.

The uppermost part of the nascent lava tube has several skylights, which reveal the lava stream within the flow, like capillaries beneath the skin. This is the uppermost skylight, just downstream from where the lava broke out from the east flank of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō on May 24.

The lava stream was flowing toward the photographer in this photo. Higher lava levels are preserved in the shelf-like protrusions on the darker orange wall to the left.

This view is of the front of the active lava flow, looking upslope. Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō is partly obscured in the clouds at upper left. Most surface activity on the advancing flow is actually where the flow widens, upslope of the flow front.

Phosphorite rock formed on the seafloor in Southern California.

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area covered by the June 27th flow (now inactive) as of June 2 is shown in orange. The areas covered by the recent breakouts at Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō as of June 8 are shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the active flow as mapped on June 10 is shown in red.

A closer view of the flow front, with Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō in the background.

The map on sheet 7 shows “potential” marine benthic habitats in the Monterey Canyon and Vicinity map area, representing a substrate type, geomorphology, seafloor process, or any other attribute that may provide a habitat for a specific species or assemblage of organisms.

This small-scale map shows Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow field in relation to the southeastern part of the Island of Hawai‘i. The area of the active flow field on June 8 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow field as mapped on June 10 is shown in red.

The only active surface lava on Kīlauea's East Rift Zone is the flow that erupted from the lower east flank of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō on May 24, 2014. This flow continues to advance southeast, and was 3.3 km (2.1 mi) long today (June 10). This photo shows the front of the flow; Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō is in the background.

This rapidly moving ‘A‘ā lava flow was one of several that advanced down the west flank of Mauna Loa during the volcano's 1950 eruption. The massive flow, tens of meters (yards) high, traveled from the Southwest Rift Zone vent to the ocean, a distance of about 18 km (11 mi), in around 18 hours.

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area covered by the June 27th flow (which may be inactive) as of June 2 is shown in orange. The areas covered by the recent breakouts at Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō as of June 2 are shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the new breakouts as mapped on June 8 is shown in red.

View of Glacier Bay National Park from the air.

Fairweather fault lidar 

Nearly 60 years after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck Lituya Bay, Alaska — leading to a tsunami that devastated the area — six U.S. Geological Survey geologists revisited the isolated region of Alaska, to pick up where their scientific predecessors left off.

Trench site along the southern Fairweather Fault, in Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska. The alluvial fan at left consists of lake, stream channel and debris flow deposits impounded by the Fairweather Fault scarp, at right.

USGS research geologist Kate Scharer with her finger on the Fairweather Fault in southeast Alaska. The magnitude 7.8 Lituya Bay earthquake caused shaking that toppled trees along the fault, which left a break in the forest shown here.

Periodic calving of ice from the snout of South Crillon Glacier.

The field team included USGS geologists Rob Witter, Adrian Bender, Chris DuRoss, Peter Haeussler, Richard Lease and Kate Scharer