Lava

noun

Melted rock that has reached the surface of the Earth. Lava can ooze slowly like red-hot treacle, or fountain up into the air — it depends on what it's made of and how much gas is trapped inside.

Geotechnical Engineering — Cracker
Go Deeper For parents & teachers
Magma once it has erupted above ground. Its behaviour depends mostly on silica content and gas load: basaltic lava (low silica) flows fast and thin, covering large distances; rhyolitic lava (high silica) is stickier, tends to trap gas, and can produce violent explosive eruptions. Lava cools into igneous rock — basalt, obsidian, pumice — with each rock type recording the conditions under which it cooled.

Appears In

The Burning Mountain Chapter 1 — When the Mountain Roared

"… how temperature could be read across different rock types, and how old lava hardened in layers that told stories if you knew how to look. He …"

The Burning Mountain Chapter 4 — The Warning Station

"… useful image to Cracker's screen before the ash forced it back. Not lava. Not open fire. A chain of steaming points along the line toward the …"

The Burning Mountain Chapter 5 — The Hidden Road of Fire

"… of pale lines and old notes. Drainage cuts. Abandoned roads. A buried lava tube from an earlier survey. A crack line marked with such a faint …"

The Burning Mountain Chapter 5 — The Hidden Road of Fire

"… from the summit shoulder. Finds an older cracked channel. Meets the buried lava tube. Steps under the service road. Keeps going toward the outer terraces.""

The Burning Mountain Chapter 8 — Gertie's Plan for Survival

"“Is lava coming here?”"

Fun Fact

From the Italian *lava*, originally a rainstorm runoff from Vesuvius that the people of Naples observed carried off loose material. The word was borrowed by volcanologists to describe the flows themselves.

See Also

Basalt Eruption Pumice Vent