Do you know what volcano glossaries are? This article will provide you with all of the information you need on a volcano glossary, including its definition, usage, example sentences, and more!
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Kevin
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December 28, 2021
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What is a volcano glossary?
A volcano and skin care glossary is a list of definitions of volcano terms. Look at the below from OSU
- Ash – Fine particles of pulverized rock blown from an explosion vent. Measuring less than 1/10 inch in diameter, ash may be either solid or molten when first erupted. By far the most common variety is vitric ash (glassy particles formed by gas bubbles bursting through liquid magma).
- Fissures – Elongated fractures or cracks on the slopes of a volcano. Fissure eruptions typically produce liquid flows, but pyroclastics may also be ejected.
- Rhyolite – Volcanic rock (or lava) that characteristically is light in color, contains 69% silica or more, and is rich in potassium and sodium.
- Pumice – Light-colored, frothy volcanic rock, usually of dacite or rhyolite composition, formed by the expansion of gas in erupting lava. Commonly seen as lumps or fragments of pea-size and larger, but can also occur abundantly as ash-sized particles.
- Tsunami – A great sea wave produced by a submarine earthquake, volcanic eruption, or large landslide.
- Ring of Fire – The regions of mountain-building earthquakes and volcanoes which surround the Pacific Ocean.
- Crater – A steep-sided, usually circular depression formed by either explosion or collapse at a volcanic vent.
- Ashfall – Volcanic ash that has fallen through the air from an eruption cloud. A deposit so formed is usually well sorted and layered.
- Pillow lava – Interconnected, sack-like bodies of lava formed underwater.
- Cirque – A steep-walled horseshoe-shaped recess high on a mountain that is formed by glacial erosion.
- Accretionary Lava Ball – A rounded mass, ranging in diameter from a few centimeters to several meters, [carried] on the surface of a lava flow (e.g., ‘a’a) or on cinder-cone slopes [and formed] by the molding of viscous lava around a core of already solidified lava.
- Lava – Magma which has reached the surface through a volcanic eruption. The term is most commonly applied to streams of liquid rock that flow from a crater or fissure. It also refers to cooled and solidified rock.
- Lava Lake – A lake of molten lava, usually basaltic, contained in a vent, crater, or broad depression of a shield volcano.
- Mudflow – A flowage of water-saturated earth material possessing a high degree of fluidity during movement. A less-saturated flowing mass is often called a debris flow. A mudflow originating on the flank of a volcano is properly called a lahar.
- Ash Flow – A turbulent mixture of gas and rock fragments, most of which are ash-sized particles, ejected violently from a crater or fissure. The mass of pyroclastics is normally of very high temperature and moves rapidly down the slopes or even along a level surface.
- Pipe – A vertical conduit through the Earth’s crust below a volcano, through which magmatic materials have passed. Commonly filled with volcanic breccia and fragments of older rock.
- Phreatic Eruption – An explosive volcanic eruption caused when water and heated volcanic rocks interact to produce a violent expulsion of steam and pulverized rocks. Magma is not involved.
- Phreatomagmatic – An explosive volcanic eruption that results from the interaction of surface or subsurface water and magma.
- Viscosity – A measure of resistance to flow in a liquid (water has low viscosity while honey has a higher viscosity.)
- Bomb – Fragment of molten or semi-molten rock, 2 1/2 inches to many feet in diameter, which is blown out during an eruption. Because of their plastic condition, bombs are often modified in shape during their flight or upon impact.
- Magma Chamber – The subterranean cavity containing the gas-rich liquid magma which feeds a volcano.
- Moho – Also called the Mohorovicic discontinuity. The surface or discontinuity that separates the crust from the mantle. The Moho is at a depth of 5-10 km beneath the ocean floor and about 35 km below the continents (but down to 60 km below mountains). Named for Andrija Mohorovicic, a Croatian seismologist.
- Accidental – Pyroclastic rocks that are formed from fragments of non-volcanic rocks or from volcanic rocks not related to the erupting volcano.
- Hypabyssal – A shallow intrusion of magma or the resulting solidified rock.
- Ejecta – Material that is thrown out by a volcano, including pyroclastic material (tephra) and lava bombs.
- Plug Dome – The steep-sided, rounded mound formed when viscous lava wells up into a crater and is too stiff to flow away. It piles up as a dome-shaped mass, often completely filling the vent from which it emerged.
- Plate Tectonics – The theory that the earth’s crust is broken into about 10 fragments (plates,) which move in relation to one another, shifting continents, forming new ocean crust, and stimulating volcanic eruptions.
- Eruption Cloud – The column of gases, ash, and larger rock fragments rising from a crater or other vent. If it is of sufficient volume and velocity, this gaseous column may reach many miles into the stratosphere, where high winds will carry it long distances.
- Tremor – Low amplitude, continuous earthquake activity often associated with magma movement.
- Curtain of Fire – A row of coalescing lava fountains along a fissure; a typical feature of a Hawaiian-type eruption
- Lapilli – Literally “little stones.” Round to angular rock fragments, measuring 1/10 inch to 2 1/2 inches in diameter, which may be ejected in either a solid or molten state.
- Continental Drift – The theory that horizontal movement of the earth’s surface causes slow, relative movements of the continents toward or away from one another.
- Andesite – Volcanic rock (or lava) characteristically medium dark in color and containing 54 to 62 percent silica and moderate amounts of iron and magnesium.
- Debris Flow – A mixture of water-saturated rock debris that flows downslope under the force of gravity (also called lahar or mudflow).
- Lahar – A torrential flow of water-saturated volcanic debris down the slope of a volcano in response to gravity. A type of mudflow.
- Lava Fountain – A rhythmic vertical fountainlike eruption of lava.
- Pyroclastic Flow – Lateral flowage of a turbulent mixture of hot gases and unsorted pyroclastic material (volcanic fragments, crystals, ash, pumice, and glass shards) that can move at high speed (50 to 100 miles an hour.) The term also can refer to the deposit so formed.
- Craton – A part of the earth’s crust that has attained stability and has been little deformed for a prolonged period.
- Tephra – Materials of all types and sizes that are erupted from a crater or volcanic vent and deposited from the air.
- Eruption – The process by which solid, liquid, and gaseous materials are ejected into the earth’s atmosphere and onto the earth’s surface by volcanic activity. Eruptions range from the quiet overflow of liquid rock to the tremendously violent expulsion of pyroclastics.
- Detachment Plane – The surface along which a landslide disconnects from its original position.
- Monogenetic – A volcano built by a single eruption.
- Fumarole – A vent or opening through which issue steam, hydrogen sulfide, or other gases. The craters of many dormant volcanoes contain active fumaroles.
- Avalanche – A large mass of material or mixtures of material falling or sliding rapidly under the force of gravity. Avalanches often are classified by their content, such as snow, ice, soil, or rock avalanches. A mixture of these materials is a debris avalanche.
- Hydrothermal Reservoir – An underground zone of porous rock containing hot water.
- Magma – Molten rock beneath the surface of the earth.
- Central Vent – A central vent is an opening at the Earth’s surface of a volcanic conduit of cylindrical or pipe-like form.
- Felsic – An igneous rock having abundant light-colored minerals.
- Obsidian – A black or dark-colored volcanic glass, usually composed of rhyolite.
- Hyaloclastite – A deposit formed by the flowing or intrusion of lava or magma into water, ice, or water-saturated sediment and its consequent granulation or shattering into small angular fragments.
- Horizontal Blast – An explosive eruption in which the resultant cloud of hot ash and other material moves laterally rather than upward.
Overall, a volcano glossary is a list of volcano terms and their definitions.
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