Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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 ...
Lava lake – Molten lava contained in a volcanic crater; Lava field, also known as lava plain – Large, mostly flat area of lava flows; Lava spine – Vertical growth of solid volcanic lava; Lava tube – Natural conduit through which lava flows beneath the solid surface; Lavaka – Type of gully, formed via groundwater sapping
Malpaís, in the Southwestern United States, Spain, Mexico, and other Spanish-speaking regions, are rough and barren landscapes that consist of relict and largely uneroded lava fields exhibiting recognizable lava flows, volcanic cones, and other volcanic landforms. This type of volcanic landscape is extremely rough and difficult to traverse.
Multiple successive and extensive lava flows cover the original landscape to eventually form a plateau, which may contain lava fields, cinder cones, shield volcanoes and other volcanic landforms. In some cases, a lava plateau may be part of a single volcano.
Pāhoehoe lava flow on the Big Island of Hawaii The picture shows overflows from a main lava channel. The channel is crusting over with a v-shaped opening pointing upstream (top left). The main channel and overflows show the perched nature of this kind of lava channel. Red liquid lava is breaking through ephemeral levees at the overflows.
Landforms together make up a given terrain, and their arrangement in the landscape is known as topography. Landforms include hills , mountains , canyons , and valleys , as well as shoreline features such as bays , peninsulas , and seas , [ 3 ] including submerged features such as mid-ocean ridges , volcanoes , and the great ocean basins .
Basalt is the most common extrusive igneous rock [9] and forms lava flows, lava sheets and lava plateaus. Some kinds of basalt solidify to form long polygonal columns. The Giant's Causeway in Antrim, Northern Ireland is an example. The molten rock, which typically contains suspended crystals and dissolved gases, is called magma. [10]
The process continues as long as the lava supply is maintained, creating a lava bench. A lava bench is a volcanic landform with a horizontal surface raised above the level of the surrounding area. [5] The Hawaiian islands are an example of land that was formed this way, and the Big Island is currently still expanding due to lava benches. [6]