Luamanu and July 1974 Flow

This forested pit crater and its adjoining lava field are an easy roadside stop on Chain of Craters Road. Keep it in your drive if you want a close look at Kīlauea’s eruption history: the crater and the younger flow show two parts of the same event side by side.

On July 19, 1974, a fissure opened east of Luamanu and sent lava across the road and into the crater. It rose about 50 feet before roughly two-thirds drained back through a fissure in the east wall. Look along the crater walls for the high-lava mark left as it receded.

The flow cut a distinct swath through the forest. At its edge, dark lava meets the greener rainforest, and ʻōhiʻa trees and ʻamaʻu ferns are slowly returning across the rock. That sharp boundary is the best thing to notice beyond the crater itself.

Luamanu means “bird crater”: lua means a hole or crater, and manu means bird. From the viewpoint, frame the forest edge and the dark flow together; the line makes it easier to see how the lava cut through the rainforest.