As an impressive stream of lava from Hawaii's Kilauea Volcano was steadily splashing into the Pacific Ocean for the past month, part of the sea cliff at the Kamokuna ocean entry on the south-east side of the Big Island of Hawaii became highly unstable and eventually collapsed.
The lava stream had been shooting out of the sea cliff since December 31, 2016, when a 26-acre lava delta from the volcano collapsed into the ocean at that point of Hawaii's Volcanoes National Park, taking part of the sea cliff with it. The collapse of the newly formed land triggered huge explosions and giant waves in the area and exposed the lava tube. The lava stream started out as a drizzle coming down the sea cliffs after the collapse, but soon increased in intensity, with the molten lava eventually arching out and falling about 70 ft to the ocean below.
The explosions caused by hot lava hitting cool water, resulted in huge pieces of rock material and debris falling onto the island, as well as seawards. A large "hot crack" developed gradually above the lava tube, running parallel to the sea cliff and making the land susceptible to collapse. According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), the cliff was becoming increasingly unstable, as the crack that was lying 5–10 m inland of the ocean entry, had more than doubled in width, from 30 cm to 70 cm, over the past days. The cliff seaward of the crack finally collapsed into the ocean on February 2, 2017, causing the lava stream to stop its arching flow, even though signs of black sand and spatter (bits of molten lava) indicate that lava is still flowing into the ocean, interacting explosively with seawater.
Watch a video capturing the impressive lava flow from Kilauea Volcano under "Media" below.
Source: USGS
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