Truffula Trees at Kilauea?

From the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS):

Truffula Trees at Kilauea? — 

Today on this day, for our #TBT,
we're sharing this photo of a Truffula tree?
In the year of '83 amongst the schlopp and the spatter
stood molds of tree trunks, whose lives did once matter.
The lava, it flowed, it hugged those tree trunks,
till nothing was left but burnt sticks and some stumps.
And much like Once-ler learned from the Lorax,
those leftover stalks provide us with facts.
The height of the flow that once passed thru
is the truth that we get from this gobbldy-goo.
And what of that tree that we can still see?
Perhaps, could it be, a Truffula tree?
Not likely, you see, as it came from the spatter
which bubbled and spurted until it went splatter
and popped on the top of the tree on a branch —
and there it cooled without a chance.

Thanks for bearing with us while we channeled our inner Dr. Seuss. This photo captures the initial fissure eruption that became Pu'u 'O'o — the current eruption of Kilauea.

The lava was once at the level of the tops of those "lava trees" (they're actually molds of tree trunks), which formed when lava flowed around the trees and cooled against the trunks. Often the trees burn from the contact with the lava, but the trunks remain in the tree molds until they burn completely or fall down. The great thing about this photo is that it shows us the high-stand of the lava level, and it likely flowed away after some initial surge. The skinny sticks in the middle of the molds are left over tree trunks. Of course, that's not really a Trufulla tree (from The Lorax book), but rather it was formed from spatter that got caught up in the branches and cooled.

#USGS #science #lava #volcano#ThrowBackThursday #Hawaii #poetry #Seuss