LiveScience Image Gallery

Wild Volcanoes

Photograph by B. Chouet in December 1969

Fireworks at Stromboli Volcano

Close view of a Stromboli Volcano erupting incandescent molten lava fragments. Strombolian eruptions are characterized by the intermittent explosion or fountaining of basaltic lava from a single vent or crater. The lava fragments generally consist of partially molten volcanic bombs that become rounded as they fly through the air. Click to enlarge.
AP Photo/David Jordan

Commotion in the Ocean

Lava from the banana flow of the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park pours into the Pacific Ocean. The banana flow was named for a forested area near the top of the volcano where there were some banana trees. The lava has created more than 500 acres of new land along the coastline. Click to enlarge.
AP Photo/David Jordan

Grand Entrance

The lava puts on a spectacular show as it splashes into the sea. Click to enlarge.
USGS/HVO

Planet Building in Action

Spigots are turned on, and lava pours into ocean off front of Highcastle Stairs bench. Each spigot is mouth of small lava tube within bench. Click to enlarge.
Photograph by J.D. Griggs on April 22, 1990

Up in Flames!

In this dramatic photo, a house is torched by a lava flow in Kalapana. Lava flows are masses of molten rock that pour onto the Earth's surface during an effusive eruption. Click to enlarge.
USGS/HVO

Eruption!

Lava bursts 450 meters high in September 1984. Hawaii's Kilauea volcano, on the Big Island, has had dozens of eruptions over the past 18 years during a streak of activity. Click to enlarge.
AP Photo/David Jordan

Volcano oozes lava into the ocean

Lava from the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park pours into the Pacific Ocean. The lava is entering the Pacific from several points along the Wilipe'a delta. Click to enlarge.
USGS/HVO

On the Move

Shown above are several toes in various states of formation along edge of inflating flow 440 m seaward of Paliuli. Spreading toe is along the same margin. Width of view is about 1.5 m. Click to enlarge.
USGS/HVO

Enter at your own risk

Pictured above is the “Mother's Day flow.” One branch of the lava stream drips down small cliff at head of bench, and one flows onto bench. Click to enlarge.
USGS/HVO

Downpour

The view shows lava spigots at the front of the bench. Lava is fed through a tube to the brink of a bench and then falls to sand below. Click to enlarge.
Photograph by J.D. Griggs on February 3, 1988

Big Splash

Steam explosions (also called littoral explosions, because they occur at the shoreline, or littoral zone) result when lava meets the sea. In the photograph above, the explosion sprays fragments of lava into the air. The smaller pieces are carried by currents and deposited in bays to form black sand beaches. Click to enlarge.
USGS/HVO

Inside the Chamber

Western and middle lava falls at new Highcastle entry. Height of sea cliff at Highcastle is an estimated 10-15 m. Click to enlarge.
USGS/HVO

On Dangerous Ground

Suddenly a person appeared in this picture view, almost directly above the falls at the very edge of the delta. He didn't stay there long, moving instead a little southwest, perhaps for better perspective. Officials warn the public, “please, take that time, heed the warnings, don't go beyond the rope barrier, and don't blindly follow those who might venture onto the delta.” Click to enlarge.
USGS/HVO

Dribble Dribble

A close-up view of some lava nearing the end of its liquidity. Click to enlarge.
AP Photo/David Jordan

Inching Towards Civilization

Lava crosses the Chain of Craters Road in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Click to enlarge.