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By Andy Coghlan

Waves of lava are threatening countless properties, roads and forests on Hawaii’s Big Island as the Kilauea volcano continues erupting. The lava is spraying up in fountains up to 70 metres high, and reaching temperatures of more than 1000°C.

Already, 35 buildings have been destroyed, including 26 homes in and around the island’s Leilani Estates area in the Puna district. 1700 residents have been evacuated.

Kilauea is one of the most active volcanoes in the world. It became more active after 30 April when the floor of a lava lake at the volcano’s summit collapsed. Lava was sent cascading down into the volcano’s plumbing.

The collapse fuelled multiple earthquakes, including a magnitude-6.9 quake on 3 May, the island’s largest for 40 years.

By Monday 12 large fissures had opened up along the East Rift Zone, which runs from Kilauea’s summit down through the Puna district, according to the US Geological Survey. The cracks are spewing toxic sulphur dioxide gas and molten lava.

Flow of lava

“The most likely scenario is more fissures, and more lava flow,” says Jessica Johnson, a volcanologist at the University of East Anglia, UK, who spent two years at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory studying Kilauea. “There’s still a lot of lava and pressure being supplied, but there’s unlikely to be an explosion.”

Kilauea’s biggest recorded eruption was in 1790, says Johnson. This happened when boiling magma under the volcano heated up large reserves of underground water. The steam generated created so much pressure that the volcano blew. But today there are many pathways by which the magma can reach the surface without hitting water, so a major eruption is less likely, says Johnson.

However, the slow-moving lava is wreaking plenty of havoc. “It’s devastating,” says Johnson. “The gas is very dangerous, and lava flow has already flowed a kilometre from one fissure, destroying properties.”