LAVA FLOW

Baculao
Buca
Dablo
Lava Flow
- Product of the quiet effusion of molten rock or magma
beneath a volcano
- Temperature ranges from 700 to 1,200 degree Celsius

MOVES VERY SLOW

Generation of Magma
- It is formed from the melting of rocks in the earth's lithosphere and the
asthenosphere.
- Most magma and lava from volcanoes are formed at plate boundaries
- Partial melting of some rocks 50-100 km deep forms
“hot spot volcanoes”

Volcanic hot spot is an area in the

mantle from which heat rises as a
thermal plume from deep in the Earth
Generation of Magma
- The heat in the mantle forms convection cells that moves the tectonic
plates
- Volcanoes form when a plate dives under another plate along
convergent boundaries called subduction zones
Lava Effusion and Explosive Eruptions
- As magma rises to the surface where the pressure is less,
gases dissolved in the magma expand, and the volume of
gas expands as pressure is reduced.
- Too much gas and sudden expansion of gas volume makes
the volcano explosive.

Explosive eruptions that produce Quiet eruptions create lava

fragments are called tephra
Lava Effusion and Explosive Eruptions
- The amount of gas involved depends on the viscosity of
magma, which depends on the composition and
temperature of magma
- Magma with higher silica content have higher viscosity
- Viscosity increases with decreasing magma temperature
Types of Lava Flow
Magma Solidified Chemical Gas
Temperature Viscosity Explosivity
Type Rock Composition Content
Basaltic Basalt 45-55 SiO2%, 1000- Low Low (0.5- Least
high in Fe, 1200°C 2%)
Mg, Ca, low
in K, Na
Andesitic Andesite 55-65 SiO2%, 800-1000°C Intermediat Intermediat Intermediat
intermediat e e (3-4%) e
e in Fe, Mg,
Ca, Na, K

Rhyolitic Rhyolite 65-75 SiO2%, 650-800°C High High (4-6%) Greatest

low in Fe,
Mg, Ca,
high in K,
Na
Types of Lava Flow
- Basaltic lava is the fastest flowing lava because of
its low viscosity
Lava flow styles are:
• Pahoehoe is composed of thin flows with smooth
surface that sometimes feature ropy folds
• A’a flow types are associated with lava fountains

- Andesitic lava have small volume so they do not usually go

beyond the foot of the volcano
- Block lava flows are comprised of smooth-sided
fragments traveling at a speed of less than 5 m
per day.
Types of Lava Flow
- Rhyolitic lava flows have higher viscosity than the
two so these are a lot slower.
- These flow out of a volcano after a pyroclastic
flow event
- Other types of lava include sheet lava and pillow lava.
- Sheet flows are thicker than pahoehoe with surface ranging from
ropy to striated
- Pillow lavas are pillow-shaped rocks formed by the sudden
cooling of lava that is deposited underwater.
Effects of Lava Flows
- Generally, lava flows travel no more than several kilometers per
hour. But there are times that flows travel rapidly.
- During the case when some 300 people died in Zaire because of
a thin lava flow from Lake Nyergongo sped at rates 30-100 km/hr.

- Lava flows bring damage or total destruction and property by

burying, crushing or burning everything in their path.
Lava Flow Hazard Zoning
- The effusion rate is the most important
thing when drawing flow hazard zones
- Fluid basalt flows will not go very far
from a volcano vent on gentle slopes,
but it travels as fast as 10 km/hr on
steep slopes
- Andesite flows move very slowly and
seldom go beyond 8 km from eruption center
- Rhyolite flows are the slowest and would rather form very steep
lava domes at or near the vent
Mitigating the Effects of Lava Flows
- Stay away from lava flow danger zones
- Diversion of lava flows in Italy in 1983 by using explosives and
barriers
- Breaching the sides of a lava tube or channel in diverting lava
flow
- Spraying an advancing lava flow with water to stop the increase
of viscosity, thickening the flow