Magma

Magma: is melted rock (a liquid). Magma may also contain dissolved gases.

 The most abundant chemical elements in magma are silicon and oxygen.
 As the magma cools, minerals form. Silicon and oxygen are the building blocks of the most common minerals. They are called silicate mineral
sand form from magmas.
 One silicon atom and four oxygen atoms become tightly bonded together. They form an ion called the silicate ion.
 These combine with ions of other elements. Mainly, they combine with aluminum, iron, calcium, sodium, potassium, and magnesium to
form silicate minerals.
 Igneous rock is rock that is formed when molted materials become solid.

When geologists analyze an igneous rock, they express the results as a percent of several “oxides.” These include SiO2, Al2O3, or CaO.
Silica and Magmas
The percentage of silica in magma varies widely. This is important to know for two reasons:

 First, magmas rich in silica tend to have more dissolved gases.

 Second, silica content affects how easily magma flows.

Magmas that are rich in silica do not flow nearly as easily as magmas that are poor in silica. Because of this, silica-rich magmas are more likely
to remain below Earth’s surface, at shallow depths, rather than flowing freely out onto the surface.

 As the magma rests below the surface, the dissolved gases gradually bubble out.
 This is because the pressure on the magma is much less than it was down deep in Earth where the magma was formed.
 It is just like what happens when you pour a carbonated drink in to a glass. The carbon dioxide dissolved in the liquid gradually bubbles out of solution.
 Unlike your carbonated drink, however, the magma is viscous. The bubbles cannot readily escape.
 Viscosity refers to the property of a substance to resist flowing. Instead, the bubbles build up pressure in the magma. This often leads to a violent explosion.

Factors affecting the formation of magma

The factors that mainly affect in the formation of magma can be summarized into three: Temperature, Pressure and composition.

Temperature plays a role in the formation of the melts in the magma. Generally, magma has a temperature range from 700-1300 degrees
Celsius.

 Lower temperature in the earth's crust might solidify the components and magma may not be formed. Temperature should be consistent in
order for a particular magma to pre produced.
 Higher temperature magma is less viscous and therefore more fluid.
 Magma is dependent on the rate of cooling which affects the formation of the end products. In this effect, the end products of magma such
as rocks may vary in the structure based on how high the temperature has been and how long the cooling takes place.

Pressure can affect the shape and formation of melts. This goes hand in hand with the temperature in order to get a particular
form of magma.

 At constant temperature, the fluidity of the magma can be dependent on the topographical location of the melts.
 As the pressure builds up, the magma will find a way in order to release it, thus destructive explosion happens.

Compositions of magma vary depending on the types of material present in the area.

 Some particles melt at lower temperature than the other. Also, volatile compounds such as water and carbon dioxide may be present in the
melts and can affect the melting and formation of magma.
 Generally, the more volatile molecules present in the magma, the easier for it to melt at lower temperatures.
 Formation of Magma
Magma is formed by the melting of the earth's mantle. Three processes are involved:

 Decrease in pressure (decompression).

 Addition of volatiles (H2O,CO2, etc…).
 Heat transfer from rising magma.

Melting due to Decompression:

 The Earth gets hotter with increasing depth due to primordial heat and radioactive decay of
elements near the core.
 The rate at which temperature increases with depth is called the geothermal gradient, or geotherm
 Liquids have no organized structure, so to melt a rock; the mineral bonds must be broken.
 At depth, confining pressure prevents atoms from breaking free of crystals.

Decompression due to Convection:

  Convection is a form of heat transfer wherein the heat moves with the material. Convection can be induced if the temperature gradient is high enough
that material at depth expands so that its density is lower than the material above it. This is an unstable situation and the hotter, lower density material
will rise to be replaced by descending cooler material in a convection cell.
 The rate of convection depends on both on the temperature gradient and the viscosity of the material (note that solids convect, but the rate is lower
than in liquids because solids have higher viscosity). In the Earth, temperature gradients appear to be high enough and visco sity low enough for
convection to occur. Plate tectonics appears to be driven by convection in some form.

Note That:

Solidus: The temperature when a rock first begins to melt

Liquidus: The temperature where the last solid particle

melts

Melting due to the Addition of Volatiles (Flux

Melting):

 Volatiles: A substance that can easily change

into a gas at relatively low temperatures (H 2O,
CO2, etc…).
  The addition of volatiles at depth (mainly H 2O) seeps into rocks and helps break bonds (aids
in melting).
 The addition of H2O into basalt, for example, drastically changes its melting temperature.
In this case, basalts at 60 km depth beneath the continents could begin to melt only if they
were volatile rich.

Melting Due to Heat Transfer:

 Melting can also occur when rising bodies of hot material essentially bake the nearby rock.
 In the mantle, heat is brought upward by convection. As hot rocks convect upward they
transfer heat to cooler rocks lying above them, which may melt.

Raising the Geothermal Gradient

Radioactive Heat:
 Elements like U, Th, K, and Rb have radioactive
isotopes.
 During radioactive decay, sub-atomic particles are
released by the decaying isotope and move outward until
they collide with other atomic particles.
 Upon collision, the kinetic energy of the moving
particles is converted to heat.
 If this heat cannot be conducted away, then the
temperature will rise.
 Most of the heat within the Earth is generated by
radioactive decay, and this is the general reason why
temperature increases with depth in the Earth.
Frictional Heat:
 In areas where rocks slide past one another, such as at the base of the lithosphere, on at subduction zones, heat could be generated by
friction.
 If this heat cannot be conducted away fast enough, then it may cause a localized rise in temperature within the zone where th e sliding or
shearing is taking place.
 This could cause a localized spike on the geothermal gradient that could cause local temperatures to rise above the solidus.
Types of Magma
Basaltic:
 Low silica content, low viscosity (thin & runny), gases escape easily (not trapped), non-explosive eruptions (most likely shield cone
volcanoes have this type).
Andesitic:
 A medium level of silica content, intermediate viscosity, intermediate explosiveness.
Rhyolitic:
 high silica content, high viscosity (thick & slow moving), gases cannot escape easily (they get trapped), very explosive eruptions (most likely cinder
cone volcanoes have this type).
Some Definitions:
Primary magma: magma originating in (mantle) source directly from melting.
Primitive magma: magma that underwent minimal differentiation.
Parental magma: least differentiated magma in a series leading to evolved rocks.
Classification of magma
Magma is a mixture of liquid, crystals, and dissolved gases below the surface.
 Lava, in contrast, is magma at the surface from which most of the gases have escaped.
 The composition of the magma determines the minerals that form and the appearance of the resulting rock.
Based on the decreasing abundance of silica in the magma or in the rock-forming minerals, both magma and igneous rock compositions are further
categorized as:
❖ Felsic – Refers to feldspar and silica (as quartz).
❖ Intermediate
❖ Mafic – Derived from the names of the elements magnesium and iron (ferric) which are more abundant in magmas with lower silica contents.
❖ Ultramafic
Felsic rocks contain quartz, Na-rich plagioclase feldspar, and K-feldspar.
▪ The concentration of dark minerals, including hornblende, biotite, and pyroxene in felsic rocks is low.
▪ Felsic rocks are usually the lightest in color.
Intermediate rocks typically contain hornblende, biotite or pyroxene, and plagioclase feldspar with nearly equal amounts of Ca and Na.
▪ Feldspar and Mg- and Fe-rich minerals are present in about equal proportions.
▪ These rocks tend to be darker than felsic rocks and lighter in color than mafic and ultramafic rocks; gray shades are most co mmon.
Mafic and ultramafic rocks primarily contain Mg-rich and Fe-rich silicate minerals, olivine and pyroxene.
 ▪ Ultramafic rocks are composed almost entirely of olivine and pyroxene.
▪ Mafic rocks also contain Ca-rich plagioclase feldspar.
▪ These rocks tend to be dark gray to black in color, because the dark Mg- and Fe-rich minerals are more prevalent than the light-colored feldspar.

Differences in Magma composition occur due to 5 main reasons…

1. Different source rock compositions (melt a felsic rock = felsic magma).
2. Magma mixing (mix felsic magma with mafic magma = intermediate magma).
3. Partial melting
4. Assimilation
5. Fractional crystallization

Partial Melting (Incomplete melting):

 Partial Melting is the process by which some minerals melt at low temperatures while other remain solids.
 According to Bowen’s reaction series, rocks that are partially melted become more mafic, because the silica-rich felsic minerals are melted first.
 The melted part of the partial melt is thus more felsic than the remaining rock.
 Silica-rich compounds melt before other compounds.

 The felsic mineral, quartz, is a common cement in many rocks.

Assimilation:
 As magma sits in its chamber, it may incorporate minerals from the
surrounding wall rock– Called assimilation.
  Occurs when wall rocks fall into the magma and melt (stoping) or when the magma partially
melts minerals from the wall rock.
 Degree of assimilation depends on composition of wall rock, temp of magma, amount of H2O
present, amount fractures in and strength of the wall rock, and residence time.
Stoping & Xenoliths
• Stoping: The process of incorporating chunks of wall rock into a magma body.
• Xenolith: A non-melted chunk of wall rock incorporated into a magma body.

Fractional Crystallization:
Fractional Crystallization: The process by which different minerals form at different temperatures.
 Not all minerals crystallize at the same temperature – This is fractional crystallization.
 As magmas cool, they become more felsic.
 Mafic minerals crystallize first and are denser than the melt, so they sink to the bottom.
Magma Mixing:
 Magmas of different compositions are mixed together, resulting magma is of a composition intermediate between the parents.

Magma movement
If magma did not move, no extrusive/volcanic rocks would ever have formed
❖ Magma rises because:
 Hotter and less dense than the surrounding rock and therefore buoyantly rises.
 The weight of the overlying rock (lithostatic pressure) literally squeezes the magma out.

Viscosity affects a magma or lava’s ability to flow:

 Controlled by:\Temperature (high temp - low viscosity).
 Volatile content (more volatiles – less viscous).
 Silica content – silica tends to form silica-oxygen tetrahedrons that bond with each
other to make long chains that ultimately resist flow (more silica – more viscous).

Bowen reaction series

 The minerals that make up igneous rocks crystallize at a range of different temperatures. This explains why a cooling magma can have some crystals
within it and yet remain predominantly liquid.
 The sequence in which minerals crystallize from magma is known as the Bowen reaction series.
The Bowen reaction series: a mode that describes the relationship between cooling magma and mineral formation.
 Of the common silicate minerals, olivine normally
crystallizes first, at between 1200° and 1300°C.
 As the temperature drops, and assuming that some
silica remains in the magma, the olivine crystals react
(combine) with some of the silica in the magma to form
pyroxene. As long as there is silica remaining and the
rate of cooling is slow, this process continues down the
discontinuous branch: olivine to pyroxene, pyroxene to
amphibole, and (under the right conditions) amphibole
to biotite.
 At about the point where pyroxene begins to
crystallize, plagioclase feldspar also begins to
crystallize.
 At that temperature, the plagioclase is calcium-rich
(Anorthite). As the temperature drops, and providing
that there is sodium left in the magma, the plagioclase
that forms is a more sodium-rich variety (Albite).
  In the discontinuous branch, olivine is typically the first mineral
to form (at just below 1300°C). As the temperature continues
to drop, olivine becomes unstable while pyroxene becomes
stable.
 The early-forming olivine crystals react with silica in the
remaining liquid magma and are converted into pyroxene,
something like this:
Mg2SiO4 (Olivine) + SiO2 ——> 2MgSiO3 (pyroxene)
Note that:
In cases where cooling happens relatively quickly, individual plagioclase
crystals can be zoned from calcium-rich in the center to more sodium-
rich around the outside. This occurs when calcium-rich early-forming
plagioclase crystals become coated with progressively more sodium-
rich plagioclase as the magma cools.

 Finally, if the magma is quite silica-rich to begin with, there will

still be some left at around 750° to 800°C, and from this last
magma, potassium feldspar, quartz, and maybe muscovite mica
will form.
 As a mafic magma starts to cool, some of the silica combines
with iron and magnesium to make olivine.
 As it cools further, much of the remaining silica goes into calcium-rich plagioclase, and any silica left may be used to convert some of the olivine to
pyroxene.
 Soon after that, all of the magma is used up and no further changes takes place.
 The minerals present will be olivine, pyroxene, and calcium-rich plagioclase.
 If the magma cools slowly underground, the product will be gabbro; if it cools quickly at the
surface, the product will be basalt.
 Felsic magmas tend to be cooler than mafic magmas when crystallization begins (because they
don’t have to be ashot to remain liquid), and so they may start out crystallizing pyroxene (not
olivine) and plagioclase. As cooling continues, the various reactions on the discontinuous branch
will proceed because silica is abundant, the plagioclase will become increasingly sodium-rich,
and eventually potassium feldspar and quartz will form.
  Commonly even very felsic rocks will not have biotite or muscovite because they may not have enough aluminum or enough hydrogen to make the
OH complexes that are necessary for mica minerals. Typical felsic rocks are granite and rhyolite.
 The cooling behavior of intermediate magmas lie somewhere between those of mafic and felsic magmas. Typical intermediate rocks are diorite and
andesite.

Volcanoes
What is a volcano?
A volcano is a site where melted rock and other materials from Earth’s mantle are released.
Looking inside a volcano:
The parts of a volcano
 During an eruption, melted rock called magma leaves the magma chamber and moves up the conduit.
 The magma leaves the conduit at the vent. Magma may leave the vent gently, or with violent force.
 Magma is called lava after it leaves the vent.
 Magma may leave the conduit by moving sideways along weaknesses between rock layers. This
sideways movement of magma forms a sill.
 Magma may also move upward in a sheet to form a dike. If a sill or a dike breaks through to the surface, another vent will form.
What happens after a volcano erupts?
Formation of a caldera and craters:
Caldera: A large crater formed by a volcanic explosion or by collapse of a volcanic cone.
▪ A collapse is triggered by the emptying of the magma chamber beneath the volcano, usually as the
result of a large volcanic eruption.
▪ If enough magma is ejected, the emptied chamber is unable to support the weight of the volcanic
edifice above it and will collapse.
▪ The collapse may occur as the result of a single cataclysmic eruption, or it may occur in stages as the
result of a series of eruptions.
▪ The total area that collapses may be hundreds or thousands of square kilometers.
▪ Calderas are much larger depressions, circular to elliptical in shape, with diameters ranging from 1 km
to 50 km. Calderas form as a result of collapse of a volcanic structure. The collapse results from
evacuation of the underlying magma chamber.
Eventually, all volcanic eruptions end. The magma drains back down the conduit. The vent winds up looking like a bowl. This bow l is called the caldera and
may be very large.
Craters are circular depressions, usually less than 1 km in diameter, that form as a result of explosions that emit gases and tephra.
Resurgent dome: If magma begins to return back up the conduit, a mound called a resurgent dome may form on the caldera floor. Another kind of volcano, a
cinder cone, may also form in the caldera.
 Lava Lake: Water may fill the caldera forming a lake. It’s also possible that the magma may not drain completely. In that case,
the caldera will contain lava and become a lava lake
The life of a volcano
Volcanoes have a lifetime:
 Volcanoes are not permanent features on the surface of Earth. They have a lifetime that occurs in phases.
 Volcanoes are described according to the phase they are in. The three phases are active, dormant, and extinct.
Active volcanoes:
 An active volcano is the most vigorous kind of volcano.
 Active volcanoes are erupting or have erupted recently, and are expected to erupt again in the near future.
 However, volcanic activity during the life of a volcano doesn’t last forever.
 Eventually, the conditions that make a volcano active change and the volcano becomes dormant.
Dormant volcanoes:
 A dormant volcano is a quiet volcano. “Dormant” means sleeping.
 Dormant volcanoes are not active now, but may become active again in the future.
 Most of the volcanoes along the northern Pacific coast of North America are dormant.
Extinct volcanoes:
 An extinct volcano is at the end of its life and is no longer able to erupt.
 As the volcano erodes, a core of now-solid magma, called a volcanic neck, may be exposed.
 Volcanic neck: is the solid remains of magma that filled the conduit. You can see the remains of several dikes running
out from the neck.
Plate Tectonics and Volcanism
The relationships between plate tectonics and volcanism:
Magma is formed at three main plate-tectonic settings: divergent boundaries (decompression melting), convergent boundaries
(flux melting), and mantle plumes (decompression melting) (Heat transfer).

Submarine Volcanoes at Divergent Plate Boundarie

  Mid-ocean ridges occur at diverging plate boundaries.
 Convection currents in the lower mantle pull the plates away from each other.
 In the divergent boundaries usually basic igneous rock types are produced.
 Asthenosphere is usually close to the surface in the order of 5 to 10 km. It is usually plastic since
temperatures are lower than those required for melting.
 When this zone is upwelled, the pressure is reduced and melting occurs due to decompression from
deeper levels hence melting.
 Beneath the divergent boundary the asthenosphere is welled upward and decompression occurs.
 At this environment Igneous of volcanic activities are pretty common and with the temperatures and
pressure metamorphism also is with spread.
 The shape of the mid-ocean ridge and the style and rate of volcanism is controlled by the rate the plates move apart.
One of the only places where an oceanic ridge reaches above sea level is at Iceland, along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Here, most eruptions are basaltic in
nature.
 New oceanic plates are created at mid-ocean ridges. About 2.4 cubic miles (10 cubic km) of new oceanic crust is added each year (not all of this magma is
erupted by volcanoes). This is about 100 times the volume of lava erupted by Kilauea (active volcano in the Hawaiian Islands ) each year.
Divergence within oceanic crust produces volcanic activity creating mid oceanic ridges (mountain ranges at the bottom of the ocean floor).

Subarial Volcanoes at Divergent Plate Boundaries

 Volcanism also occurs in continental areas that are undergoing episodes of extensional deformation.
 A classic example is the East African Rift Valley, where the African plate is being split.
 The extensional deformation occurs because the underlying mantle is rising from below
and stretching the overlying continental crust.
 Upwelling mantle may melt to produce magmas, which then rise to the surface, often
along normal faults produced by the extensional deformation.
 When two continental plate regions move apart, a rift valley and volcanoes are formed.
 Convection currents in the lower mantle pull the plates away from each other. This rift is
a dropped zone where plates are pulling apart.
 Early in the rift formation, streams and rivers flow into the low valleys and long, narrow
lakes can be created. Eventually, the crust may become thin enough that a piece of the
continent breaks off, forming new tectonic plate. At this point, water from ocean will rush
in, forming a new sea, or ocean basin in the rift zone.
 Divergence within the continental crust results in a continental rift valley.
Submarine Volcanoes at Convergent Plate Boundaries
 All around the Pacific Ocean is a zone often referred to as the Pacific Ring of Fire, where most of the world's most active and most dangerous volcanoes
occur.
 The Ring of Fire occurs because most of the margins of the Pacific ocean coincide with converging margins along which subduction is occurring.

The convergent boundary along the coasts of South America, Central America, Mexico, the northwestern U.S. (Northern California, Oregon, & Washington), western
Canada, and eastern Alaska, are boundaries along which oceanic lithosphere is being subducted beneath continental lithosphere. This has resulted in the formation of
continental volcanic arcs that form the Andes Mountains, the Central American Volcanic Belt, the Mexican Volcanic Belt, the C ascade Range, and the Alaskan volcanic arc.

The Aleutian Islands (west of Alaska), the Kurile-Kamchatka Arc, Japan, Philippine Islands, and Marianas Islands, New Zealand, and the Indonesian Islands, along the
northern and western margins of the Pacific Ocean are zones where oceanic lithosphere is being subducted beneath oceanic lithosphere. These are all island arcs.
 Basaltic magmas generated by flux melting of the mantle overlying the subduction zone.
 Through magmatic differentiation, basaltic magmas change to andesitic and rhyolitic magma.
 Because these magmas are often gas rich and have all have relatively high viscosity, eruptions
in these areas tend to be violent.

Hot Spots ( Wet spots), (Volcanic chains):

 Volcanism also occurs in areas that are not associated with plate boundaries, in the interior of plates.
 These are most commonly associated with
what is called a hot spot.
 Hot spots appear to result from plumes of
hot mantle material upwelling toward the
surface, independent of the convection cells
though to cause plate motion.
 Hot spots tend to be fixed in position, with
the plates moving over the top.
 As the rising plume of hot mantle moves upward it begins to melt to produce magmas.
 These magmas then rise to the surface producing a volcano. But, as the plate carrying the volcano moves away from the positio n over the hot spot,
volcanism ceases and new volcano forms in the position now over the hot spot.
 This tends to produce chains of volcanoes or seamounts (former volcanic islands that have eroded
below sea level).
Volcanism resulting from hotspots occurs in both the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean, but are more evident
on the sea floor of the Pacific Ocean, because the plates here move at higher velocity than those
under the Atlantic Ocean.
 A hot spot trace shows up as a linear chain of islands and seamounts, many of which can be seen in
the Pacific Ocean.
 The Hawaiian Ridge is one such hot spot trace. Here the Big Island of Hawaii is currently over the hot
spot, the other Hawaiian islands still stand above sea level, but volcanism has ceased. Northwest of
the Hawaiian Islands, the volcanoes have eroded and are now seamounts.
 The ages of volcanic rocks increase along the Hawaiian Ridge to the northwest of Hawaii. The
prominent bend observed where the Hawaiian Ridge intersects the Emperor Seamount chain has
resulted from a change in the direction of plate motion over the hot spot.
 Note that when the Emperor Seamount chain was produced, the plate must have been moving in a more northerly direction. The age of the volcanic rocks
at the bend is about 50 million years.
 Note that:
Yellowstone appears to be over a continental hot spot that
has produced a chain of volcanoes as the North American
Plate moves southwestward over the hot spot.

Types of Volcanic Landforms

 Volcanic landforms are controlled by the geological
processes that form them and act on them after they
have formed.
 Thus, a given volcanic landform will be characteristic
of the types of material it is made of, which in turn
depends on the prior eruptive behavior of the volcano.
 Volcanoes with low silica magma
Shield Volcanoes:
 A shield volcano is characterized by gentle upper slopes (about 5o) and somewhat steeper lower
slopes (about 10o).
 Shield volcanoes are composed almost entirely of relatively thin lava flows built up over a central
vent.
 Most shields were formed by low viscosity basaltic magma that flows easily down slope away from
the summit vent.
 The low viscosity of the magma allows the lava to travel down slope on a gentle slope, but as it cools
and its viscosity increases, its thickness builds up on the lower slopes giving a somewhat steeper
lower slope.
 Most shield volcanoes have a roughly circular or oval shape in map view.
 Shield volcanoes thus form by relatively non-explosive eruptions of low viscosity.
 The magma of shield volcanoes is so runny that dissolved gas simply bubbles out.

Cinder Cones (also called Tephra Cones):

 Cinder cones are small volume cones consisting predominantly of tephra that result from strombolian
eruptions.
 They usually consist of basaltic to andesitic material.
 that result from strombolian eruptions. They usually consist of basaltic to andesitic material.
 Slopes of the cones are controlled by the angle of repose (angle of stable slope for loose
unconsolidated material) and are usually between about 25 and 35 o.
 On young cones, a depression at the top of the cone, called a crater, is evident, and represents
the area above the vent from which material was explosively ejected. Craters are usually
eroded away on older cones.
 Cinder cones often occur in groups, where tens to hundreds of cones are found in one area.
 Cinder and tephra cones usually occur around summit vents and flank vents of
stratovolcanoes.
Volcanoes with high silica magma
Composite volcanoes (Stratovolcanoes):
 Have steeper slopes than shield volcanoes, with slopes of 6 to 10o low on the flanks to 30o near the top.
 The steep slope near the summit is due partly to thick, short viscous lava flows that do not travel far down
slope from the vent.
 The gentler slopes near the base are due to accumulations of material eroded from the volcano and to the
accumulation of pyroclastic material.
 Stratovolcanoes show inter-layering of lava flows and pyroclastic material, which is why they are
sometimes called composite volcanoes. Pyroclastic material can make up over 50% of the volume of a
stratovolcano.
 Lavas and pyroclastics are usually andesitic to rhyolitic in composition.
 Due to the higher viscosity of magmas erupted from these volcanoes; they are usually more explosive
than shield volcanoes.
 Stratovolcanoes sometimes have a crater at the summit that is formed by explosive ejection of material from a central vent.
 Sometimes the craters have been filled in by lava flows or lava domes, sometimes they are filled with glacial ice and less commonly they are filled with
water.
 Before a composite volcano eruption, the magma may be under so much gas pressure that the composite volcano cone bulges.
Explosive eruptions
Pyroclastic flows:
 When a column of exploding material collapses, it races down the side of a composite volcano as a pyroclastic flow.
 The speed (more than a 100 km/h), force, and heat (greater than 500 °C) of the pyroclastic flow make it
extremely destructive.
Lava bombs:
 Blobs of glowing lava may be thrown far from the base of the composite volcano.
 These blobs, called lava bombs, can be the size of watermelons.
 Sometimes the composite volcano explodes again, further down its side, adding more material to the
expanding lava explosion.
Lahars:
 Is a type of mudflow or debris flow composed of a slurry of pyroclastic material, rocky debris, and water.
The material flows down from a volcano, typically along a river valley.
Water and volcanoes
 Volcanoes are part of Earth's water cycle.
 The water cycle is a set of processes that keep water moving from place to place.
 When a volcano erupts, water that is in the magma is released as water vapor
into the atmosphere.
 This water vapor condenses and falls into the ocean as rain. Or, the rain may fall
on land and eventually get deposited into the ocean by rivers or streams.
 Recall that when rivers and streams are swollen by rain, they are able to carry
sediments and rocks into the ocean. In this way, the water cycle is connected to
Earth's geological cycle, a set of processes that keep rocky material moving from
place to place in and on Earth.
 Water is important for making magma.
 Water combines with hot rock when a subducting plate sinks into the mantle.

 The combination of water and hot mantle rock has a lower melting temperature and the mantle rock melts,
forming magma. This magma rises forming a volcano.

Geysers and hot springs:

 These volcanic features are the result of water in the ground coming in contact with magma-heated rock
below the surface.
 The hot rock heats the water.
 Whether a geyser or a hot spring forms depends on the temperature of the rock, the amount of water
present, and the shape of the water passage.
 Water that evaporates from a geyser or hot spring also becomes part of the water cycle.

The effects and benefits of volcanoes

It has clear effect of the earth’s surface where it:
 They add annually millions of tons of volcanic rocks to the earth’s surface, which may appear as thin sheets with great extension and appear as
volcanic plateaus or mountains.
 Appearance a new volcanic island if volcanic eruptions happened under the surface of the water in the seas and oceans.
 The volcanoes lead to the formation of very fertile soil of volcanic ash.
 The formation of volcanic rounded lakes if rain water gathered in the craters extinct volcanoes.
 The formation of metamorphic rocks as a result of touching magma to surrounding rocks.
So volcanoes are considered of the construction factors of the earth’s crust.