Selected Images of the Pu‘u ‘O‘o–Kupaianaha Eruption, 1983–1997

By T. Jane Takahashi, Christina Heliker, and Michael F. Diggles

Digital Data Series DDS-80

2003

U.S. Department of the Interior
Gale A. Norton, Secretary

U.S. Geological Survey
Charles G. Groat, Director

Cover photograph by J.D. Griggs

Abstract

Episode numbers are given as E-numbers in parentheses before each caption that pertains to the Pu‘u ‘O‘o–Kupaianaha eruption; details of the episodes are given in table 1. Hawaiian words and place names are listed below to facilitate searching. All images included in this collection are owned by the U.S. Geological Survey, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, and are in the public domain. Therefore, no permission or fee is required for their use. Please include photo credit for the photographer and the U.S. Geological Survey. We assume no responsibility for the modification of these images.

Introduction

Episodes

1983–1986: The Rise of Pu‘u ‘O‘o–Episodic Lava Fountains Build Massive Cone

The high fountains produced mainly ‘a‘a flows, the more viscous and gas-poor of the two types of Hawaiian lava. ‘A‘a flows from Pu‘u ‘O‘o were typically 3–5 m thick and advanced at speeds of 50–500 m/h, picking up speed and narrowing on steep slopes. Because of the short duration of each eruptive episode, none of these flows reached the ocean or the coastal highway. The flows posed an immediate threat, however, to the sparsely populated Royal Gardens subdivision, located on a steep slope 6 km southeast of the vent. ‘A‘a flows reached the subdivision in as little as 13 hours during several eruptive episodes and destroyed 16 houses in 1983 and 1984.

Fallout from the towering lava fountains built a cinder-and-spatter cone 255 m high, over twice the height of any other cone on the east rift zone. The cone was strikingly asymmetrical, because the prevailing trade winds caused most of the airborne fragments to pile up on the southwest side of the conduit.

1986–1992: Continuous Eruption of Kupaianaha Sends Lava to the Sea

After weeks of continuous eruption, the main channel exiting the pond gradually developed a roof as crust at the sides of the channel extended across the lava stream. This was the beginning of a lava tube that would eventually extend to the ocean. Lava tubes insulate rivers of lava from both heat and gas loss. Flows that break out of tubes are usually pahoehoe, a type of lava more fluid than ‘a‘a. The surface of a cooled pahoehoe flow can be flat and smooth, ropy, shelly, or undulating.

A broad field of tube-fed pahoehoe spread gradually from Kupaianaha to the ocean, 12 km to the southeast, taking three months to cover the same distance that ‘a‘a from Pu‘u ‘O‘o traveled in less than a day. By early November 1986, the flows were visible on the steep slope above the small community of Kapa‘ahu, and their leisurely pace was no longer reassuring.

On November 28, 1986, flows from Kupaianaha reached the ocean, cutting a swath through Kapa‘ahu and closing the coastal highway. A few weeks later, the lava took a more easterly course and overran 14 homes on the northwest edge of Kalapana in a single day. Fortunately for the rest of the village, this flow abruptly stagnated when the tube became blocked near the vent.

Over the next three years, lava destroyed a few homes on either side of the ever-widening flow field. Initially, the course of pahoehoe flows was strongly influenced by topography, but, eventually, even the highest ground was inundated. The depth of the lava increased as flows covered many areas repeatedly and the tube-fed flows grew from within, inflating as more lava was intruded under the already solid crust of the flow front.

From mid–1987 through 1989, most of the lava that erupted from Kupaianaha flowed directly to the sea. Steam explosions at the ocean entry fragmented the lava, creating black sand that collected to form new beaches in protected bays down-current of the lava entry. New, albeit unstable, acreage was added to the island as lava deltas built seaward over a steep submarine slope of fragmented lava.

The long-lived tube system delivering lava to the ocean began to break down in the spring of 1989, and surface flows were a common sight, particularly on the steep slope (pali) above the coastal plain. Lava flows encroached on new territory, overrunning the Waha‘ula Visitor Center and adjoining residences in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park.

The eruption began to change in 1990, when a series of nine pauses, lasting from one to four days, interrupted the steady effusion of lava. At the same time, the eruption entered its most destructive phase. In March 1990, the flows turned toward Kalapana, an area cherished for its historic sites and black sand beaches. By the end of the summer, the entire community, including a church, store, and 100 homes, lay buried under 15–25 m of lava. In May 1990, a Federal Disaster Declaration was issued for Kalapana and all other areas previously affected by the eruption.

As the flows advanced eastward, they took to the sea, covering the palm-lined Kaimu Bay with a plain of lava that extends 300 m beyond the original shoreline. In late 1990, a new lava tube diverted lava away from Kalapana and back into the national park, where flows again entered the ocean.

During the five-and-a-half years that Kupaianaha reigned, repeated collapses of the Pu‘u ‘O‘o conduit gradually formed a crater approximately 300 m in diameter. A lava pond appeared sporadically at the bottom of the crater starting in 1987; after 1990 it was present most of the time.

The volume of lava erupted from Kupaianaha steadily declined in 1991. Concurrently the level and activity of the Pu‘u ‘O‘o lava pond rose. In November 1991, fissures opened between Pu‘u ‘O‘o and Kupaianaha and erupted for three weeks. Kupaianaha continued to erupt during this event (episode 49), but its output was waning. On February 7, 1992, the Kupaianaha vent was dead.

1992–1997: The Return to Pu‘u ‘O‘o

Episodes 50–53 built a lava shield 45 m high and 1 km in diameter that banked up against the western flank of Pu‘u ‘O‘o. In November 1992, lava crossed the Chain of Craters Road in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park and entered the ocean at Kamoamoa, 11 km from the vents. Over the next month, tube-fed pahoehoe flows buried the Kamoamoa archaeological site, the National Park‘s campground and picnic area, and the black sand beach formed earlier in the eruption by flows from Kupaianaha entering the ocean farther east. From the end of 1992 through January 1997, tubes fed lava to the ocean almost continuously, broadening the episode 50–53 flow field, which lies mostly within the National Park.

Beginning in 1993, collapse pits appeared on the west flank of Pu‘u ‘O‘o as the magma feeding the flank vents undermined that side of the cone. Collapse pits had engulfed most of the west flank by the end of 1996.

January 1997: Cone Collapse Heralds Fissure Eruption

The collapse at Pu‘u ‘O‘o left a large gap in the west side of the cone. The rubble-lined crater was now 210 m deep.

February 1997 to Present: Eruption of Pu‘u ‘O‘o Flank Vents Resumes

In April 1997, a single vent on the west side of the crater replaced the active lava pond in Pu‘u ‘O‘o. Flows from this vent intermittently ponded at the crater‘s east end. In June 1997, the lava rose until it overtopped the gap in the west wall of Pu‘u ‘O‘o formed by the January 1997 collapse. Lava spilled from the crater for the first time in 11 years. Subsequent crater overflows overtopped the east crater rim and extended as far as 1.5 km downrift. The spillovers were brief events, ending when the pond drained through conduits in the crater floor.

Tube-fed flows from the episode–55 flank vents reached the ocean in July 1997 near the eastern boundary of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. Episode 55 flows have subsequently buried much of the episode–50–53-flow field. In early 2000, flows crossed the eastern boundary of the park and encroached on private property. During the next two years, lava overran five abandoned houses in Royal Gardens subdivision, bringing the total number of structures destroyed by this eruption to 189 by the end of May 2002.

Table 1. Details of episodes 1–55

References

Heliker, C.C., and Mattox, T.N., 2003, Pu‘u ‘O‘o–the first 20 years: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1676 [available on the World Wide Web at https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/pp1676/ ].

Heliker, Christina, Ulrich, George E., Margriter, Sandy C., and Hoffmann, John P., 2001, Maps showing the development of the Pu'u 'O'o - Kupaianaha flow field, June 1984-February 1987 Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii: U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Investigations Series I-2685, scale 1:50,000, 4 sheets [available on the World Wide Web at https://pubs.usgs.gov/imap/i2685/ ].

Takahashi, T.J., Abston, C.C., and Heliker, Christina, 1995, Images of Kilauea East Rift Zone Eruption, 1983-1993: U.S. Geological Survey Digital Data Series DDS-24 (CD-ROM) [available on the World Wide Web at https://pubs.usgs.gov/dds/dds-24/ ].

Takahashi, T.J., and Griggs, J.D., 1987, Hawaiian volcanic features: a photoglossary, chap. 36 of Decker, R.W., Wright, T.L., and Stauffer, P.H., eds., Volcanism in Hawaii: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1350, v. 2, p. 845–902.

Weisel, Dorian, and Stapleton, Frankie, 1992, Aloha o Kalapana: Honolulu, Hawaii, Bishop Museum Press, 154 p.

Wolfe, E.W., ed., 1988, The Pu‘u ‘O‘o eruption of Kīlauea Volcano, Hawaii: episodes 1 through 20, January 3, 1983, through June 8, 1984: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1463, 251 p., 5 pls. in pocket, map scale 1:50,000.

Wright, T.L., Takahashi, T.J., and Griggs, J.D., 1992, Hawai‘i volcano watch: a pictorial history: University of Hawaii Press and Hawaii Natural History Association, 162 p.

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