Kilauea spews lava as Hawaii volcano erupts again

One of the world's most active volcanoes has erupted again in Hawaii.

Footage from Kilauea on Hawaii's Big Island showed fountains of lava being sprayed 300 metres into the air.

It's the 23rd time that activity has taken place on the volcano since it erupted in December last year.

Kilauea is one of six active volcanoes located in the Hawaiian Islands, which also include Mauna Loa, the largest volcano in the world.

Kilauea is the most active volcano on Hawaii's Big Island.

There have been ongoing regular eruptions taking place there for the past forty years.

According to experts, activity at the summit - or top - of Kilauea has been coming and going since an eruption in December 2024.

The USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said the latest eruption began on Sunday, in the north vent of one of the craters of Kilauea, called Halema'uma'u.

The agency added that fountains of lava were sprayed more than 300 metres into the air and that lava flows had covered the floor of the crater.

Around an hour later, activity also started in the south vent - spewing smaller lava fountains around 70 metres in height.

The observatory told CBS News that lava flows remained within Kilauea's summit caldera, and did not affect any residential areas.

Most volcanoes form at the boundaries of Earth's tectonic plates, huge slabs of Earth's crust and upper mantle, which fit together like pieces of a puzzle.

These plates are not fixed but are constantly moving at a very slow rate.

However, Hawaii is slightly different, as it doesn't sit on a plate boundary.

Instead, volcanoes have formed the long chain of islands because of the "Hawaiian hot spot".

A hot spot is made up of super-heated material deep inside the earth, located in the middle of a plate.

Here, magma - or molten rock - rises upwards through the planet's layers.

When some of it pushes its way to the surface, a volcanic eruption takes place.