Hawaii’s volcano Kilauea starts exploding and erupting new lava
It’s been erupting for 25 years now, but that doesn’t stop Hawaii’s volcano Kilauea throwing up new surprises. One of its major craters has now started exploding and oozing lava - the explosions are the first in 84 years, and the lava the first in a quarter of a century from this particular crater.
The explosion in the Halemaumau crater spread debris over an amazing 75 acres - I expect local residents got quite a shock. But what caused the explosion? Basically, it was because gas under increasing pressure below the surface finally had to get out somehow, and it did that by exploding through the rock. The lava came out for a similar reason - the pressure under the surface was just getting too great.
Since Kilauea’s been erupting non-stop for 25 years, should we really be making such a fuss over these latest events? Normally I’d say no, but it is interesting that these events follow other reported increasing activity by Kilauea (I wrote about it a few weeks ago). 
Is Hawaii’s most famous volcano about to turn nasty?
As with all geological events (volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, etc.) the simple and true answer is that we just don’t know. But I’ll definitely be keeping more of an eye on Kilauea now - it could definitely get interesting any day now.
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It seems like only ash fallout for now… but that’s enough reason to keep your distance. You don’t want to breath this combination of rock and glass or you could cut your lungs. Of course a lava display is much more interesting visually — I wonder if there will be a new vent opened up?