Volcano vocabulary to help you understand the most recent eruptions
Spatters, clinkers, and lahars, oh my.
By Amelia Urry Yesterday at 11:00am
The distinction between lava and magma is a fine one. Both terms refer to molten rock, but once magma leaves the earth’s interior and flows out the open air, it becomes lava. It’s sort of like the alchemy of “meteor" into “meteorite" once a chunk of space rock touches ground—a linguistic metamorphosis as much as, or more than, a physical one.
The ongoing eruption of Kilauea in Hawaii has brought volcano jargon to the surface, like an effusion of mafic (that’s low-silica, oozing magma to you). Maybe you’ve heard of “laze," the haze that issues forth when hot lava hits seawater, billowing clouds of hydrochloric acid and particles of glass that can be toxic to inhale. There’s also “vogâ€â€”volcanic smog that drifts from active volcanoes like Kilauea, reacting with sunlight and oxygen to form a hazy fug that often reaches the far end of the Hawaiian island chain.
https://www.popsci.com/volcano-vocabulary-kinds-of-lava
