This is an image of flowing lava.
Click on image for full size
S. Rowland/LPI
Flowing Lava
Lava can move in two ways, wide flat lava flows, or through channels which squeeze the lava into a small area. The fastest lava flows move at about 6 mi/hr, an easy jog, but they average between 2/3 and 1/3 mi/hr.
Lava in channels can move very quickly. It can typically move up to 23 mi/hr (a sprinter's top speed), but have moved at up to 35mi/hr, faster than any person can run!
You might also be interested in:
This is an example of the surface of Europa. The surface may be flooded by fresh water from underground, which freezes when it touches the surface. The edges of the flow are rounded, like a puddle of water
...moreAsh is formed as a volcano erupts when rocks made by the volcano blow apart into millions of tiny pieces. The rocks are still very hot, because they just formed from lava. If the hot rocks come into contact
...moreCinder cones are simple volcanoes which have a cone shape and are not very big. Compare the size of this volcano to the strato-volcano in this image. They are usually made of piles of lava, not ash. During
...moreLava can move in two ways, wide flat lava flows, or through channels which squeeze the lava into a small area. The fastest lava flows move at about 6 mi/hr, an easy jog, but they average between 2/3 and
...more Plates at our planet’s surface move because heat in the Earth’s core causes molten rock in the mantle layer to flow. We used to think the Earth’s plates just surfed on top of the moving mantle, but now
...moreMany kinds of surface features are clues to a sliding lithosphere. Two types of features can form when plates move apart. At ocean ridges, the crust splits apart to make room for molten mantle rock. Continental
...moreWhen magma is erupted onto the surface in the form of lava, it becomes silicate rock. With each different eruption of the volcano, lava which comes to the surface is made of slightly different chemicals,
...more