Recently there was an online news article that mentioned cold magma that was flowing on the land. What is cold magma? – Matt, 7, Illinois
melissamayerDear Matt,
When I think about volcanoes, I picture molten magma deep inside the Earth. Or burning hot lava pouring down the side of a mountain. But you’re right that there have been news reports that mention cold lava.
I talked about what that could be with my friend Katie Cooper. She’s a geologist at Washington State University.
She told me the news may be using “cold lava” to describe a lahar. That’s a mix of water and rocky debris that sometimes whooshes down the side of a volcano. It's also called a debris flow or a volcanic mud flow.
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