During 12-18 January, HVO reported that activity at Kilauea continued from the summit caldera and the east rift zone. At the summit caldera, the level of the lava-pool surface in the deep pit within Halema'uma'u crater circulated and remained mostly stable at approximately 120 m below the crater floor, periodically rising several meters higher. Nighttime incandescence was visible from the Jaggar Museum on the NW caldera rim. A plume from the vent that drifted S, NE, and N deposited ash and fresh spatter nearby.

At the east rift zone, lava that broke out of the Quarry tube at a saddle between two rootless shields around 610 m elevation, continued to advance in two branches, E and W. At the lowest elevation of the E branch lava advanced along Highway 130 near Kalapana, set a kipuka on fire, and destroyed a structure. One part of the W branch entered the ocean at Ki, about 2 km SW of the end of Highway 130. A spatter cone on the N portion of the Pu'u 'O'o crater floor fed lava flows and incandescence emanated from the fuming vent in the E wall of the crater.

Geological Summary. Kilauea overlaps the E flank of the massive Mauna Loa shield volcano in the island of Hawaii. Eruptions are prominent in Polynesian legends; written documentation since 1820 records frequent summit and flank lava flow eruptions interspersed with periods of long-term lava lake activity at Halemaumau crater in the summit caldera until 1924. The 3 x 5 km caldera was formed in several stages about 1,500 years ago and during the 18th century; eruptions have also originated from the lengthy East and Southwest rift zones, which extend to the ocean in both directions. About 90% of the surface of the basaltic shield volcano is formed of lava flows less than about 1,100 years old; 70% of the surface is younger than 600 years. The long-term eruption from the East rift zone between 1983 and 2018 produced lava flows covering more than 100 km2, destroyed hundreds of houses, and added new coastline.

Source: US Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO)