~ Surface flows near Kalapana Gardens stalling ~

I have no solid reports for the surface flows on the coastal plains from this morning, but I was out there at 11:00 PM last night and could see that most of the breakouts near the end county access road, which is now the new viewing site, as well as the lava flowing into the backyard of one Kalapana Gardens had stagnated: no longer advancing.

There were, however, continued breakouts across a wide range of the coastal plains or flats; the strongest of these were out along the lava tube itself, but another was far east of there and very close to Gary Sleik’s burned out home. At that spot brush was also burning. Any advancement of lava in that area becomes a threat to homes along the edge of Kalapana Gardens.

That said, there is a continued rise in magma pressures within the reservoirs under Kilauea Volcano, in recent months a rise in these pressures has correlated with increased lava pressure in the tubes carrying molten lava down the mountain and to surface breakouts from weak fissures along the tubes themselves. So we could perhaps see continued breakouts in the days & nights ahead. This increase in lava pressure will also likely escalate the land forming into the sea - out on the new lava delta… which will make the outer edge of the delta/bench very unstable and highly prone to collapses.

Yesterday’s posting here tells the story of this latest flow, or scroll down to yesterday’s post below this one.