Lava is both fascinating and scary. Watching a rapid lava flow is not something we all get to witness. Nor is it something you would want to view from up close. The speed at which lava moves is unreal. It almost looks like it is edited using a green screen!
The below video shows how scary this natural phenomenon can be. The lava burns at an extremely high temperature as it passes through. In the video, we can see the lava moving at an incredible speed, leaving viewers speechless.

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The video showcases the Kilauea’s Fissure 8 eruption in the Leilani Estates. In the video, you can see two people who seem to be monitoring the lava flow. The lava appears to have cut across a long stretch of hillside road over a dried black volcanic igneous rock.
The appearance of the lava and the speed at which the lava is moving may look fake, but it is a devasting event that did happen, and the people in the area had to evacuate their homes.
Kilauea’s Fissure 8 Eruption
The footage in the video is from an eruption on one of Hawaii’s biggest islands which has the Kilauea volcano. The Kilauea volcano is situated on the island’s southern shores in the lower East Rift Zone, and it erupted on the 3rd of May in 2018.

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This eruption has been named Ahu’aila’au, the 8th fissure out of 24 that spewed lava in the Leilani Estates in Pahoa. All that’s left from the eruption is a 100-foot-tall cinder cone after the lava shot up to 200 feet in the air and caused destruction to everything in its path.
Kilauea is a young active shield volcano estimated to be around 210,000 to 280,000 years old. It is classified as one of the most active volcanoes in the world. The lava flowing from fissure 8 has started has filled Kapoho Bay and extended to the former coastline.
The lava from the volcano’s western vent continues to flow into the Halema’uma’u lava lake along the rim of the crater floor.
Too Hot To Touch
The temperature of the heat is unreal. Lava can reach temperatures up to 570 to 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit. The heat from lava can be felt by anyone standing near lava or any lava flows. The lava eventually cools after 130 days. Once the lava has cooled, it will form a coal-black igneous rock which mimics a crust, as seen in the video.
The Speed Of Lava Flow
The flow speed of the lava in the video is undetermined, but the average lava flow moves at a speed of 10 to 40 kilometers per hour. The speed depends on whether the lava flows from flat ground or down a slope, like in the video. This is why the lava flow in the video looks so fast, as it is flowing down a slope, thus traveling at a faster speed than normal.
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Sources
- State of Hawaii Department of Business, Econom Development & Tourism, Available here: https://dbedt.hawaii.gov/blog/21-11/
- Earth Science Applied Science, Available here: https://appliedsciences.nasa.gov/our-impact/news/landsat-8-views-kilauea-eruption
- Volcano Discovery, Available here: https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/kilauea/news/69269/Kilauea-volcano-update-Vigorous-fountaining-from-fissure-8-continues-the-resulting-lava-flow-has-com.html#:~:text=Kilauea%20volcano%20update%3A%20The%20eruption%20continues%20without%20significant,flows%20towards%20the%20new%20ocean%20entry%20at%20Kaphoho.
- Volcano Discovery, Available here: https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/hawaii/kilauea/current-activity.html