Volcanic Landforms -I

Lava is molten rock that erupts from beneath Earth's surface. When it reaches the surface and cools quickly, it hardens into rock.

These rocks are called extrusive igneous rocks, and they help shape incredible landforms like volcanoes, lava domes, and lava plateaus.

Volcanoes are the most well-known volcanic landforms. Depending on the type of lava and how it erupts, they can be cinder cones, composite volcanoes, or shield volcanoes.

Sometimes, lava erupts through long cracks in the Earth's crust called fissures. Massive fissure eruptions helped form the ocean floor.

If lava is very thick and slow-moving, it piles up near the vent instead of spreading out. This creates a round, dome-shaped landform called a lava dome, like the one at Mount St. Helens.

On the other hand, if lava is thin and flows over a large area, it cools into broad, flat layers of rock known as lava plateaus. A great example is the Columbia Plateau in the United States, which stretches over 63,000 square miles.