How magma reaches Earth’s surface

• Lava begins as magma in the mantle.

• Magma forms in the asthenosphere, which lies beneath the lithosphere.
• Because liquid magma is less dense than the surrounding solid material,
magma flows upward into any cracks in the rock above.
• Magma rises until it reaches the surface, or until it becomes trapped
beneath layers of rock.
A volcano Erupts
• The dissolved gases trapped in magma are under tremendous pressure.
• As magma rises toward the surface, the pressure decreases. The dissolved
gases begin to separate out, forming bubbles.
• A volcano erupts when an opening develops in weak rock on the surface.
• During a volcanic eruption, the gases dissolved in magma rush out, carrying
the magma with them.
• Once magma reaches the surface and becomes lava, the gases bubble out.
Inside a Volcano
• All volcanoes have a pocket of magma beneath the surface and one or more
cracks through which the magma forces its way.
• Beneath a volcano, magma collects in a pocket called a magma chamber.
• The magma moves through a pipe, a long tube in the ground that connects the
magma chamber to Earth’s surface.
• Molten rock and gas leave the volcano through an opening called a vent.
• Often there is one central vent at the top of a volcano, however, many
volcanoes also have other bents that open on the volcano’s sides.
• A lava flow is the area covered by lava as it pours out of a vent.
• A crater is a bowl-shaped area that may form at the top of a volcano around
the volcano's central vent.

Characteristics of Magma
• The force of a volcanic eruption depends partly on the amount of gas
dissolved in the magma.
• Also, how thick or thin the magma is, its temperature, and its silica
content are also important factors.
• Some types of magma are thick and flow very slowly. Other types of magma are
fluid and flow almost as easily as water.
• Magma’s temperature partly determines whether it is thick or fluid. The
hotter the magma, the more fluid it is.
• The amount of silica in magma also helps to determine how easily the magma
flows.
• Silica, which is a material that is formed from the elements oxygen and
silicon, is one of the most abundant materials in Earth's crust and mantle.
• The more silica magma contains, the thicker it is.
• Magma that is high in silica produces light-colored lava that is too sticky
to flow very far.
• When this type of lava cools, it forms the rock rhyolite, which has the same
composition as granite.
• Magma that is low in silica flows readily and produces dark-colored lava.
• When this kind of lava cools, rocks such as basalt are formed.

Types of Volcanic Eruptions

• A volcano’s magma influences how the volcano erupts.
• The silica content of magma helps to determine whether the volcanic eruption
is quiet or explosive.
Quiet Eruptions
• A volcano erupts quietly if its magma flows easily.
• The gas dissolved in the magma bubbles out gently.
• Thin, runny lava oozes quietly from the vent.
• The islands of Hawaii and Iceland were formed from quiet eruptions.
• Quiet eruptions produce two different types of lava: pahoehoe and aa.
• Pahoehoe is fast-moving, hot lava.
• The surface of a lava flow formed from pahoehoe looks like a solid mass of
wrinkles, billows, and ropelike coils.
• Lava that is cooler and slower-moving is called aa.
• When aa hardens, it forms a rough surface consisting of jagged lava chunks.

Explosive Eruptions
• If its magma is thick and sticky, a volcano erupts explosively.
• Its slowly builds up in the volcano’s pipe, plugging it like a cork in a
bottle,
• Dissolved gases cannot escape from the thick magma. The trapped gases build
up pressure until they explode.

• The explosion breaks the lava into fragments that quickly cools and harden
into pieces of different sizes.
• The smallest pieces are volcanic ash-fine, rocky particles.
• Cinders are pebble-sized particles.
• Larger pieces, called bombs may range from the size of a baseball to the
size of a car.
• A pyroclastic flow occurs when an explosive eruption hurls out ash, cinders,
and bombs as well as gases.

Stages of a Volcano
• The activity of a volcano may last from less than a decade to more than 10
million years. Most long-lived volcanoes, however, do not erupt continuously.
• Geologists often describe volcanoes with terms usually reserved for living
things, such as sleeping, awakening, alive or dead.
• An active, or live, volcano is one that is erupting or has shown sign that
it may erupt in the near future.
• A dormant, or sleeping, volcano is like a sleeping bear.
• An extinct, or dead, volcano is unlikely to erupt again.
Other types of volcanic activity
• Hot springs and geysers are two examples of volcanic activity that do not
involve the eruption of lava.
• A hot spring forms when groundwater heated by a nearby body of magma rises
to the surface and collects in a natural pool.
• Water from hot springs may contain dissolved gases and other substances from
deep within Earth.
• A geyser is a fountain of water and steam that erupts from the ground.

Geothermal Energy
• In volcanic areas, water heated by magma can provide a clean, reliable
energy source called geothermal energy.
• It can be used as the source of heat and electricity.