Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Photo and Video Chronology - Kīlauea - May 4, 2004

What does Banana lava look like?

This is a photo of an active western cascade on Paliuli.
Active western cascade on Paliuli. Yesterday morning's eastern cascade, near right edge of image, is entirely crusted though possibly still carrying lava. In foreground is part of lava flow fed by cascades. Height of Paliuli, 12-15 m.
This is a photo of a small active toe along eastern margin of Banana flow on coastal flat.
Small active toe along eastern margin of Banana flow on coastal flat. Lava at bottom of image is about 40 cm wide.

 

This is a photo of a toe just starting to plummet down small cliff onto tilted piece of crust below.
Toe just starting to plummet down small cliff onto tilted piece of crust below. Right image shows final product. Width of toe, about 40 cm.
This is a photo of a toe flowing down tilted piece of crust.
Same toe as in right image has flowed down tilted piece of crust and is stagnating in depression at base of cliff.

 

This is a photo of a ropy surface on pahoehoe toe along margin of Banana flow.
Ropy surface on pahoehoe toe along margin of Banana flow. Lava flows down steep slope and slows at base, causing plastic crust to wrinkle. Widest part of toe, about 1 m.
This is a photo of lava breaking out from under crust.
Lava breaking out from under crust, with lower part of western cascade in background.

 

This is a photo of lava pouring from a crack in thin crust on toe.
Lava pours from crack in thin crust on toe. Width of view, about 1.5 m.
This is a photo of a lava flow advancing away from Paliuli.
Lava flow advancing away from Paliuli, with gushing western cascade in background. Note how much more vigorous the cascade is now than it was 10 minutes earlier (right image above). This increased happened suddenly. Similar surges were observed yesterday afternoon, too.

 

Get Our News

These items are in the RSS feed format (Really Simple Syndication) based on categories such as topics, locations, and more. You can install and RSS reader browser extension, software, or use a third-party service to receive immediate news updates depending on the feed that you have added. If you click the feed links below, they may look strange because they are simply XML code. An RSS reader can easily read this code and push out a notification to you when something new is posted to our site.