Lava Flows and their Effects

Lava flows are streams of molten rock that pour or ooze from an erupting vent. Lava is erupted during either nonexplosive activity or explosive lava fountains. Lava flows destroy everything in their path, but most move slowly enough that people can move out of the way. The speed at which lava moves across the ground depends on several factors, including (1) type of lava erupted and its viscosity; (2) steepness of the ground over which it travels; (3) whether the lava flows as a broad sheet, through a confined channel, or down a lava tube; and (4) rate of lava production at the vent.

Fluid basalt flows can extend tens of kilometers from an erupting vent. The leading edges of basalt flows can travel as fast as 10 km/hour on steep slopes but they typically advance less than 1 km/hour on gentle slopes. But when basalt lava flows are confined within a channel or lava tube on a steep slope, the main body of the flow can reach velocities >30 km/hour.

Viscous andesite flows move only a few kilometers per hour and rarely extend more than 8 km from their vents. Viscous dacite and rhyolite flows often form steep-sided mounds called lava domes over an erupting vent. Lava domes often grow by the extrusion of many individual flows >30 m thick over a period of several months or years. Such flows will overlap one another and typically move less than a few meters per hour.

Everything in the path of an advancing lava flow will be knocked over, surrounded, or buried by lava, or ignited by the extremely hot temperature of lava. When lava erupts beneath a glacier or flows over snow and ice, meltwater from the ice and snow can result in far-reaching lahars. If lava enters a body of water or water enters a lava tube, the water may boil violently and cause an explosive shower of molten spatter over a wide area. Methane gas, produced as lava buries vegetation, can migrate in subsurface voids and explode when heated. Thick viscous lava flows, especially those that build a dome, can collapse to form fast-moving pyroclastic flows.

Deaths caused directly by lava flows are uncommon because most move slowly enough that people can move out the way easily and flows usually don't travel far from the vent. Death and injury can result when onlookers approach an advancing lava flow too closely or their retreat is cut off by other flows. Deaths attributed to lava flows are often due to related causes, such as explosions when lava interacts with water, the collapse of an active lava delta, asphyxiation due to accompanying toxic gases, pyroclastic flows from a collapsing dome, and lahars from meltwater.

Other natural phenomena such as hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunami, fires, and earthquakes often destroy buildings, agricultural crops, and homes, but the owner(s) can usually rebuild or repair structures and their businesses in the same location. Lava flows, however, can bury homes and agricultural land under tens of meters of hardened black rock; landmarks and property lines become obscured by a vast, new hummocky landscape. People are rarely able to use land buried by lava flows or sell it for more than a small fraction of its previous worth.

Lava erupted from Kilauea Volcano covers part of Highway 130 on the southeast coast of the Island of Hawai`i. By the end of 1998, lava from the Pu`u` `O`o - Kupaianaha eruption covered about 13 km of the highway to depths as great as 25 m. Between 1983 and 1998, lava flows covered an area of 99.7 km² (38.5 mi²).

Because lava flows can completely block roads and highways that may serve as the only evacuation route for people threatened by an advancing flow, it is vital for communities that could be inundated with lava to develop emergency-response plans.

More information about the Pu`u `O`o - Kupaianaha eruption is available from the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

One of the chief threats of lava flows to property owners is that the flows may burn buildings and homes even if the flow doesn't reach the structure. This house caught fire from the intense heat of an advancing `a`a flow (note red glow of flow left of the house).

Basalt has the highest temperature of any lava, typically between about 1170-1100°C (~2140-2000°F). The other lava types (andesite, dacite, and rhyolite) form cooler flows with temperatures between about 1000-800°C (~1800-1500°F); some flows can still move slowly at temperatures as low as about 600°C (~1100°F).

View of eruption crater and ash-covered Vatnajökull glacier about 36 hours after the eruption had broken through the ice. By this time, the area of subsidence had grown to about 9 km long and 2-3 km wide. The eruption continued for about another 10 days, and meltwater from the glacier flowed into the Grímsvötn caldera. On October 1, water level in the caldera's subglacial lake was about 1410 m; by October 16, the water level had risen to 1504 m, an increase of 94 m! According to scientists monitoring the activity, lava erupting from the fissure was piled up on the ground beneath the glacier, "forming a mountain ridge which in places is expected to be 200 m high."

On October 16, scientists stated that the meltwater, which had been accumulating under the ice shelf in the Grímsvötn caldera lake, could begin draining at any time to trigger a jökulhlaup (glacial outburst flood). On November 5 the expected jökulhlaup began. Photograph courtesy of Magnús Tumi Guðmundsson. Science Institute, University of Iceland. October 1, 1996, 12:30 p.m.

Aerial view of Colima Volcano moments after a lava flow on the upper flank of the volcano collapsed; the photograph is tilted slightly (horizon is in upper right). The white plume is rising directly from the summit of the volcano. The tan-colored ash cloud on the volcano's flank (left side in this view) is rising from a pyroclastic flow. The fast-moving pyroclastic flow was caused by the collapse of a thick lava flow that was extruding from the summit area and oozing down the volcano's steep upper cone. When the lava flow collapsed, the hot lava broke apart into fragments ranging in size from boulders to tiny ash particles and swept down the volcano under the influence of gravity to form the pyroclastic flow; the flow reached a maximum distance of 4.5 km from the summit. Photograph courtesy of Abel Cortes, Colima Volcano Observatory,
University of Colima, November 22, 1998.

Photo glossary starting points

• `A`a flows
• Pahoehoe (includes links to more additional textures)
• Lava flows (includes additional features and characteristics)

Kilauea Volcano, Hawai`i

• Timeline of recent Kilauea activity
• Spectacular show underway at lava ocean entry
• Pele revisits Royal Gardens (lava flows)
• Kalapana covered by flows, 1990
• Kaphoho covered by flows, 1960
• Summit Eruption of Kilauea Volcano, in Kilauea Iki Crater, 1959

Mauna Loa Volcano, Hawai`i

• Summary of the 1984 eruption that threatened Hilo, Hawai`i
• Large 1950 eruption sent lava into sea in less than 4 hours