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They're both molten rock, so what is the difference between lava and magma? It all comes down to location.

As you probably know, the interior of theEarth is very hot. We stand on the cool crust, but as you travel down through the crust and into the mantle, it gets hotter and hotter. Although the Earth's mantle is solid, it can have pockets of molten rock trapped between the mantle and the crust. This liquid rock is less dense than the surrounding mantle, and so it makes its way up through the Earth's crust through cracks and weaknesses. Eventually it reaches the surface, and erupts from a volcano.

Magma is the molten material beneath the Earth's crust. It usually collects in a magma chamber beneath a volcano, and can then be injected into cracks in rocks or issue out of volcanoes in eruptions. The temperature of magma ranges between 700 C and 1300 C.

When it reaches the surface and comes out of a volcano, magma becomes lava. There are actually different kinds of lava depending on its thickness or viscosity. The thinnest lava can flow downhill for many kilometers, creating a gentle slope. The thicker lavas will just pile up around the volcanic vent and hardly flow at all. The thickest lava doesn't even flow. It just plugs up the Plumbing of a volcano, and can be the cause of violent explosions.

So the different between magma and lava is location. Magma is deep underground, in chambers beneath volcanoes, and lava is the stuff that comes out of volcanoes.

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12y ago
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12y ago

Magma could be described in very simple terms as molten rock that forms from the melting of crustal or mantle material (possibly very deep) underground. If this molten rock is erupted onto the surface (for example during a volcanic eruption) it is then described as lava.

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13y ago

One is from inside the Volcano the other is outside. I think Magma is the one inside and Lava is the one that's being spewed. But it may be the other way around.

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13y ago

Magma Is Inside The Earth. As Soon As Its Surfaced Its Called Lava. Absolutely No Difference. Just Where It Is

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13y ago

Lava and magma are both molten rock. The only difference is that lava is magma that has been erupted onto the Earth's surface.

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6y ago

Magma is molten rock under the surface of the earth, and when it breaks the surface, it immediately turns into lava.

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Q: Compare and contrast magma and lava?
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Related questions

Contrast magma to lava?

Magma is inside of the volcano and has molten rock in it. To where lava is outside the volcano and does not have as much molten rock in it as Magma does.


Compare and contrast lava plateaus and dome mountains?

Both landforms develop as a result of the upward movement of molten material. Lava plateaus are high, level areas that form when thin, runny lava repeatedly erupts on the surface. In contrast, dome mountains are high, dome-shaped areas that form when hardened magma is uplifted and bends the layers of rock above it into a dome.


Compare and contrast lava plateaus and dome mountain.?

Both landforms develop as a result of the upward movement of molten material. Lava plateaus are high, level areas that form when thin, runny lava repeatedly erupts on the surface. In contrast, dome mountains are high, dome-shaped areas that form when hardened magma is uplifted and bends the layers of rock above it into a dome.


Is lava magma?

yes. magma is the lava that is in the volcano and lava is the magma that is outside a volcano


Does lava turn to magma or magma turns to llava?

magma turns into lava.


Why lava and magma is together?

Magma is just lava inside the earth, and lava is just magma outside the earth.


Does magma equals lava?

Lava and magma are both substances produced by volcanoes. There is a difference between the two, however. Specifically, magma has not yet come out of a volcano, while lava is magma that has erupted out of the cone.


How would a rock that formed from lava cooling on the Earth's surface compare with a rock that formed from magma cooling deep in the Earth's crust?

The rock that formed from lava would have smaller crystals than the rock that formed from magma.


What is magma called when it comes out of the ground?

Magma that flows onto the Earth's surface is called Lava.


What is it called when magma erupts onto the surface of the volcano?

lava


What are lava and magma made of?

Lava and magma are composed of molten rock.


Is magma faster than lava?

Lava is magma, that has reached the surface.