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Hawaii’sKilauea volcanoerupted begin Sunday ( Dec. 20 ) dark local time , with striking lava fountains and huge puff of gas and steam being launch from the summit crater called Halemaʻumaʻu , the Hawaii Volcano Observatory ( HVO ) , part of the U.S. Geological Survey ( USGS ) , account .
Though the cuticle volcano is one of Earth ’s most activevolcanoes , forever spewing lava from its fissures , the recent eruption is much more dramatic than the " background " stream of lava that systematically flow from volcanic whirl .
An eruption started at the Kilauea summit on Dec. 20, 2020, at approximately 9:30 p.m. HST with multiple fissures opening on the walls of Halemaʻumaʻu crater.
" For the past several weeks , the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory has read ground deformation and seism rate at Kilauea Volcano ’s height and upper East Rift Zone that have exceeded background level , " since a 2018 eruption , the lookout said in a statement Sunday .
Related : Photos : Fiery Lava from Kilauea Volcano Erupts on Hawaii ’s Big Island
Just after 9:30 p.m. HST ( 2:30 a.m. EST , 7:30 a.m. UTC ) , the vent observatory picked up a glow in the crater at Kilauea ’s summit , just before the eruption began . Several cranny opened up in the wall of the crater , which was filled with water ; sizzling lava stream through the crack and into the lake , causing the weewee to seethe away as it was replaced with the molten stone . The crater ’s northern fissure sent out a vast lava fountain , extending some 165 base ( 50 meter ) gamy , the HVO reported .
Shortly after 9:30 p.m. HST, an eruption began at the summit of Kilauea Volcano. Red spots are the approximate locations of fissure vents feeding lava flowing into the bottom of Halema‘uma‘u crater. The water lake at the base of Halema‘uma‘u crater has been replaced with a growing lava lake.
About an 60 minutes later , at 10:36 p.m. HST ( 3:36 a.m. EST , 8:36 a.m. UTC ) , a 4.4 - magnitude quake throw off the ground beneath the volcano ’s south wing . The mall of the earthquake was about 4 nautical mile ( 6 klick ) deep and about 8.7 miles ( 14 kilometer ) to the south of Fern Forest , inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park . More than 30earthquakesof magnitude-4 or not bad have shook Kilauea ’s south wing in the retiring 20 years , harmonize to HVO , with most of them triggered by the abrupt movement of the south flank as it displace south-east over the oceanic crust .
" HVO go on to supervise Kīlauea as the situation is rapidly evolving with this evening ’s eruption at the summit of Kīlauea , " David Phillips , HVO ’s acting scientist - in - charge , said in the statement .
The last dramatic bam occurred in the spring of 2018 when the floor of the Pu’u ' Ō’ō ’s volcanic crater , on the eastern side of the volcano ’s rift zona , collapsed on April 30 , pushing magma underground southeast , Live Science reportedat the fourth dimension . On May 3 , a magnitude-5.0 earthquake struck the Big Island near the Pu’u ' Ō’ō volcanic crater . That shaking sent lava racing into residential subdivision in the Puna district of the Big Island . Mandatory evacuations of the Leilani Estates and Lanipuna Gardens subdivisions followed .
Originally published on Live Science .
