Study reveals how gas bubbles shaped Kīlauea's 2018 lava flow

The lava that buried entire neighborhoods during the 2018 Kīlauea eruption was composed of nearly 80% gas bubbles near its source.

A recent study shows that those bubbles played a central role in controlling how fast and far the lava traveled and that lava flow models need to account for bubbles to more accurately forecast where lava will stop.