The volume and depth of the craters produced on silicon samples during high power laser ablation show a strong nonlinear change as the laser irradiance increases across a threshold value, approximately 2.2$ imes$10$^$10/ W/㎠. Time-resolved shadowgraph images of the ablation plume reveal the ejection of large particulates from the sample for laser irradiance above the threshold, with a time delay of about 300-400 ㎱. The numerically estimated thickness of the superheated liquid layer, considering the transformation of liquid metal into liquid dielectric near the critical state, agrees with the measured agrees with crater depths. It is suggested that a phase explosion of the deep superheated liquid layer near the critical state is responsible for the measured sudden increase of crater volume and the ejection of large particulates.