Saturday, December 03, 2005

NATURE GIVES . . . AND NATURE TAKES AWAY


About 44 acres of coastline collapsed into the ocean in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, setting loose a glowing stream of lava that shot out from the newly exposed cliff wall 45 feet above the water. The plume, 6 feet in diameter, sent up a tower of steam as it hit the water and began forming a ramp of new land. The collapse of the lava shelf and cliff was the largest since Kilauea Volcano began its current eruption in 1983. The picture above shows an earlier incident where an active lava tube poured out at the ocean forming a "new" shelf out of the lava flow. The Island of Hawaii grows daily with this process.  Posted by Picasa

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