• Question: what elements and compound make lava? :)

    Asked by ghickman to James on 17 Nov 2013.
    • Photo: James Hickey

      James Hickey answered on 17 Nov 2013:


      Hey ghickman!

      Lava is a complicated mixture of crystals, bubbles of volcanic gas and glass. Each of these three different things contain different elements and compounds. For example, typical volcanic gases are water vapour (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2) and sulphur dioxide (SO2).

      The crystals and glass can contain different elements and compounds depending on the type of magma that created it, or the processes that have affected it on its journey up through the Earth. But as an example, lava can contain the following elements: silicon, oxygen, aluminium, iron, magnesium, calcium, sodium, potassium, phosphorus, and titanium (plus other elements in very small concentrations). The proportion of elements links in to the other question you asked about types of volcanic rock – /telluriumn13-zone/2013/11/15/hi-how-many-different-types-of-volcano-rocks-are-there-and-what-are-they-called-or-is-there-just-one-and-its-called-a/

      There is some good information about the amounts of elements at this website here too: http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/what-lava-made

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