Can volcanoes produce large explosive eruptions and rivers of fluid lava at the same time?
Not usually. During a single eruption, a volcano CAN produce both lava flows and ash, sometimes simultaneously. The red, glowing lava fountains and lava flows in Dante’s Peak (including the active flow across which Harry Dalton drives) are characteristic of a fluid magma, called basalt. In contrast, explosive gray ash columns and pyroclastic flows shown in other scenes are characteristic of more viscous magmas, called andesite, dacite, or rhyolite. It’s uncommon for a volcano to erupt magmas of widely different composition at the same time.
Related Questions
- Is there evidence for a cause and effect relationship between eruptions that occur at about the same time from volcanoes located hundreds to thousands of km apart?
- Can volcanoes produce large explosive eruptions and rivers of fluid lava at the same time?
- What is formed by explosive eruptions followed by lava flows?
