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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 ...
Magma that is extruded onto the surface during a volcanic eruption is called lava. Lava cools and solidifies relatively quickly compared to underground bodies of magma. This fast cooling does not allow crystals to grow large, and a part of the melt does not crystallize at all, becoming glass.
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.
Obsidian is formed from quickly cooled lava, which is the parent material. [ 13 ] [ 14 ] [ 15 ] Extrusive formation of obsidian may occur when felsic lava cools rapidly at the edges of a felsic lava flow or volcanic dome, or when lava cools during sudden contact with water or air.
Pahoehoe lava is a relatively smooth lava flow that can be billowy or ropey. They can move as one sheet, by the advancement of "toes", or as a snaking lava column. [10] A'a lava flows are denser and more viscous than pahoehoe, and tend to move slower. Flows can measure 2 to 20 m (7 to 66 ft) thick.
If a rhyolite lava-stream cools quickly, it can quickly freeze into a black glassy substance called obsidian. When filled with bubbles of gas, the same lava may form the spongy appearing pumice. Allowed to cool slowly, it forms a light-colored, uniformly solid rock called rhyolite. [citation needed]
If the flow rate is too fast, even if the conduit is permeable, it will act as though it is impermeable [4] and will result in an explosive eruption. Silicic magmas typically form blocky lava flows [ 14 ] or steep-sided mounds, called lava domes , because their high viscosity [ 15 ] does not allow it to flow like that of basaltic magmas.
A’a lava has a rough, spiny surface made of clasts of lava called clinkers. [16] Block lava is another type of lava, with less jagged fragments than in a’a lava. [17] Pahoehoe lava is by far the most common lava type, both on Earth and probably the other terrestrial planets. It has a smooth surface, with mounds, hollows and folds. [3]