Lava Burns Tropical Forest in Hawaii

Join me for four hours as lava flows through one half mile of tropical forest in Hawaii.

This is a slide show of pictures, so I can't share the continuous chorus of burning wood, falling branches, falling trees, crackling lava, and methane explosions. The methane explosions are caused when the heat from the lava breaks down the root fibers into methane and other compounds. The methane trapped underground then explodes when it finally comes into contact with the burning wood.

The lava flow was near the Kalapana Trail at about the 1200 foot elevation. It originated at the Pu'u O'o vent of Kilauea Volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Pictures taken May 14, 2003.

Audio: "A Brighter Light Will Shine" by Kenneth King

More photos and videos:
http://volcanochaser.smugmug.com/

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• lava
• lavatube
• Kilauea
• Hawaii
• Pu'uO'o
• eruption
• volcano

[christiangomez5]

how fast was it going

[volcanochaser]

The main flow was spread out over a large area, so the front was moving very slow and a person could easily walk a lot faster than the flow was moving. The flow shown in the video was a small offshoot from the main flow and was moving about five to ten feet per minute.

[doom3jocky]

amzing i never seen lava up close in my life exept when i was in hawaii

[volcanochaser]

I saw lava up close while on vacation, then moved here so I could do it more often.

[jklolomgno]

thats hot.

[969Oriax696]

satan was hungry!!

feed me

[MagnusRulerHardt]

@doom3jocky

I think I know.

[karkrashinc]

I take it it's not as hot as Ithought because there's whole tree's trunks surrounded in lava but they're like, not exploding into flames.

[scrubzyful]

haha same

[cooldudelyboy443]

Hawaii is a new country right, it is in volcan land, well.. it have alot of volcanos.

[stevehamny]

I want to touch it! but that would be really bad.

[volcanochaser]

It's lava. Go to the smugmug link on the video description. There are six better photos on the 2003 gallery dated May 14, 2003. The dates are on the caption description and they are dated sequentially.

Slow moving lava like this forms a silvery crust almost immediately, so you will mostly see the orange liquid as it advances.

I have never heard of mud flows in Kilauea. It's a young volcano with gentle slopes and no streams or lakes. Rain soaks into the porous ground almost immediately.