Lava is molten or partially molten rock that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet or a moon onto its surface.
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12 Facts About Lava
3.
Lava viscosity is mostly determined by composition but depends on temperature and shear rate.
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4.
Lava viscosity determines the kind of volcanic activity that takes place when the lava is erupted.
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5.
Lava is most fluid when first erupted, becoming much more viscous as its temperature drops.
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6.
Lava domes are formed by the extrusion of viscous felsic magma.
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7.
Lava tubes are formed when a flow of relatively fluid lava cools on the upper surface sufficiently to form a crust.
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8.
Lava tubes are known from the modern day eruptions of Kilauea, and significant, extensive and open lava tubes of Tertiary age are known from North Queensland, Australia, some extending for 15 kilometres .
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9.
Lava lakes do not usually persist for long, either draining back into the magma chamber once pressure is relieved, or by draining via eruption of lava flows or pyroclastic explosion.
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10.
Lava deltas are generally associated with large-scale, effusive type basaltic volcanism.
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11.
Lava fountain is a volcanic phenomenon in which lava is forcefully but non-explosively ejected from a crater, vent, or fissure.
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12.
Lava flows are enormously destructive to property in their path.
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