Kilauea Iki volcanic vent, Hawaii 2005

Kilauea volcano, 1250m (4090ft) is the youngest and most active of Hawaii's volcanoes. It can be studied and observed closely in relative safety in the Hawaiian Volcanoes National Park, Puna district, approx. 48 km from Hilo. Kilauea has been continuously erupting along the East Rift Zone since January 1983, making it the world's longest erupting volcano. In 1959, Kilauea Iki (lit. Little Kilauea), a new vent on the eastern side of Kilauea's caldera, burst into a fiery fountain of lava, reaching record heights of 600m (2000ft), turning the caldera into a molten lava lake and leaving a 120m high cone. At its peak Kilauea Iki gushed out 2 millon tons of lava in an hour. Tests have revealed that the molten lava is merely 70 or so meters below the now-cooled lava lake. A 5km round-trip walking trail to the vent crosses the crater. This image shows the red rock of Kilauea Iki vent, the solidified lava lake and the smoking Halemaumau pit crater of Kilauea caldera in the background.