Video- Unusual Lava Fire Hose Described By USGS Volcano Scientist

a reply to: muzzy

Whoa, so like maybe between 45 and 80 feet (14 to 25 meters) in diameter?
I would guess that based on the photographs and video footage available.

I admit I am very astonished by this event.
It's certainly mind blowing and it makes my heart race just thinking about it.

It is crazy what the natural environment of Earth produces. And that doesn't even begin to concieve of what lies out in the vast Universe we find ourselves in because there are clearly some unbelievable environments out there!!

Imagine other worlds where the entire planet is significantly volcanic. These types of events as depicted in the OP would be very commonplace in far more extreme forms. We might call them primordial worlds, or even an old world that was obliterated in a cosmic collision and returned to a highly volcanic state.

Something I realized a long time ago is that like water, the materials that compose "rock" can also go through various states like ice, vapor, and liquid.

The carbon dioxide will eventually react with the porous rock and turn into a solid, carbonate compound, but that process can take centuries,

So even a gas can revert to a solid, though generally this is extremely slow.

Now imagine that, the surface of Earth is actually like standing on rock ice. It's frozen, usually. In the case of the lava in Hawaii, it's clearly liquid in form. The temperatures for that are what we consider very high in order to melt these materials.

We even use the word "melt" with rocks turning into lava, just as we do with ice turning into liquid water. We also use the word "evaporate" to describe the corresponding phenomena.

And here's a cool picture I found, it's an artists rendition of a moon around Jupiter (that almost certainly doesn't actually exist because Io isn't likely to be anything like this at the surface level), but the concept is valid in terms of what "might exist and probably does exist" throughout the Universe at large:

Google "Io volcano" or similar searches.

Also for fun, while you're at it, look up concept art (Google image searches) for the atmosphere of Jupiter. There are some amazing paintings done on that subject, and I really love looking at these types of concepts.

I guess I'm a huge fan of the subject of exoplanets (and even our own local neighboring planets and moons) and the creativity of artists when it comes to imagining these worlds and what they might be like.

Update:

A major piece of the cliff collapsed, and the HVO caught it on video!

hvo.wr.usgs.gov...

a reply to: TrueAmerican

This whole thing is spectacular, I gotta say.
Thanks for making this thread!

Here is some more footage from a different angle.

Enjoy:

a reply to: EartOccupant

Thanks!

This has been my favorite topic all week.

I've showed so many people, got into conversations about Mt St Helens (and my journey there in 1990), and also how unbelievably huge Olympus Mons on Mars is, etc!

Ty for additional footage!