Effusive eruption Effusive eruption An effusive eruption is a type of volcanic eruption in which lava steadily flows out of a volcano onto the ground. There are two major groupings of eruptions: effusive and explosive. Effusive eruption differs from explosive eruption, wherein magma is violently fragmented and rapidly expelled from a volcano. Effusive eruptions are most common in basaltic magmas, but they also occur in intermediate and felsic magmas. These eruptions form lava flows and lava domes, each of which vary in shape, length, and width. Deep in the crust, gasses are dissolved into the magma because of high pressures, but upon
Ice-marginal lava flow its subglacial beginnings. Currently the volcano is surrounded on all sides, except the south, by glaciers. What does Hoodoo mountain have to do with ice-marginal lava flows? Well, the entirety of the mountain is also surrounded by enormous lava cliffs, ranging from 50m-200m in height, as seen in Figure 3. The clearest example of these lava cliffs is seen on the southwestern side of the mountain whereas the northern formation of these cliffs has been overridden by recent lava flows and glacial erosion. Scientists are able to diagnose these lava cliff formations as a result of ice-marginal lava flows because