Images

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.

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.

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.

Though difficult to photograph, aerial views showed that this open vent was but a small window into a large, hot cavity beneath Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō's northeast flank. 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.

Phosphorite rock formed on the seafloor in Southern California.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Fairweather fault lidar 

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.

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.

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

Screenshot of Total Water Level and Coastal Change Forecast Viewer on June 4, 2016, two days before Tropical Storm Colin was expected to hit Florida’s Gulf of Mexico coast.

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area covered by the June 27th flow as of June 2 is shown in orange. The areas covered by the new breakouts at Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō as of May 26 are shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the new breakouts as mapped on June 2 is shown in red.