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Field Notebook
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Field Notebook
Tracking lava
Winter, 2010
East Rift Zone, Hawaii
Twilight. We find the slow leading edge of lava, glowing pools and pillows moving a few inches per second; snap, crackle, pop. A wall of heat hits my face, and the ground is like standing on a wood stove, switching right foot, left, right. In places, the lava sounds like a steel scrapheap being moved, clanking and hissing. Globs swell into fal heads of molten earth. It's plenty bright for writing. I brought a 1977 penny in my breast pocket, fish it out, copper hot in my hand. Tossing it in, I expect it to plant and sink, but instead in bounces off with a ping. The molten shell is hard with a soft, pushing interior.
Shadows tear open and spill out bright, ropey intestines; spreading, luminous bellies; liquid suns...
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