A Hawaiian Volcano Observatory team uses a drilling rig to extract drill core from the cooling lava lake in Kīlauea Iki crater. At the time of this 1968 project, nearly a decade after a lava lake filled Kīlauea Iki during the 1959 eruption, the crust had solidified to a depth of about 30 m. The drill core penetrated to 60 m depth without reaching the bottom of the still partially molten lava lake. This project, the first to use a drill rig to sample a lava lake, allowed study of vertical variations in chemistry, mineralogy, and temperature within a cooling lava lake.

Photo by Jean Tobin, 1968.

This image is made available under the Public Domain Dedication CC0 license, but proper attribution is appreciated.

Galleries: Fieldwork

Keywords: volcanologist | field work | sample

Kilauea