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A magma chamber is a large pool of liquid rock beneath the surface of the Earth. The molten rock, or magma, in such a chamber is less dense than the surrounding country rock, which produces buoyant forces on the magma that tend to drive it upwards. [1] If the magma finds a path to the surface, then the result will be a volcanic eruption ...
Dike (geology) A magmatic dike (vertical) cross-cutting horizontal layers of sedimentary rock, in Makhtesh Ramon, Israel. In geology, a dike or dyke is a sheet of rock that is formed in a fracture of a pre-existing rock body. Dikes can be either magmatic or sedimentary in origin. Magmatic dikes form when magma flows into a crack then solidifies ...
Sill (geology) Illustration showing the difference between a dike and a sill. In geology, a sill is a tabular sheet intrusion that has intruded between older layers of sedimentary rock, beds of volcanic lava or tuff, or along the direction of foliation in metamorphic rock. A sill is a concordant intrusive sheet, meaning that it does not cut ...
A laccolith is a type of igneous intrusion, formed when magma forces its way upwards through the Earth's crust but cools and solidifies before reaching the surface. Laccoliths are distinguished from other igneous intrusions by their dome-shaped upper surface and level base. They are assumed to be fed by a conduit from below, though this is ...
Phreatic eruption at the summit of Mount St. Helens, Washington, in the spring of 1980. A phreatic eruption, also called a phreatic explosion, ultravulcanian eruption or steam-blast eruption, [1] occurs when magma heats ground water or surface water. The extreme temperature of the magma (anywhere from 500 to 1,170 °C (930 to 2,100 °F)) causes ...
The magma subsequently broke through to the surface as plinian eruptions, followed by caldera collapse. Four calderas, all 1–1.5 kilometers (0.6–0.9 mi) in diameter, have been identified at the surface of the dome, and five sequences of volcaniclastic , tuff , and lava beds have been identified around the dome.
The word lava comes from Italian and is probably derived from the Latin word labes, which means a fall or slide. [2] [3] An early use of the word in connection with extrusion of magma from below the surface is found in a short account of the 1737 eruption of Vesuvius, written by Francesco Serao, who described "a flow of fiery lava" as an analogy to the flow of water and mud down the flanks of ...
The 9 October 2008 issue of the journal Science suggested that two interconnected magma chambers lie beneath the surface of the volcano on Montserrat – one six kilometres below the surface and the other 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) below the surface. The journal also showed a link between surface behaviour and the size of the deeper magma chamber.