Tuzo Wilson Seamounts numerous smaller vents, with a total edifice volume of about 12 km. The lava emitted in eruptions at the Tuzo Wilson Seamounts is made of basalt, a common gray to black or dark brown extrusive volcanic rock low in silica content (the lava is mafic) that is usually fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava. Glassy pillow lava is found at the seamounts, a type of rock typically formed when basaltic lava emerges from a submarine volcanic vent. The viscous lava gains a solid crust on contact with the water, and this crust cracks and oozes additional large blobs or
Lava Decade Volcano in 1991. Deaths attributed to volcanoes frequently have a different cause, for example volcanic ejecta, pyroclastic flow from a collapsing lava dome, lahars, poisonous gases that travel ahead of lava, or explosions caused when the flow comes into contact with water. A particularly dangerous area is called a lava bench. This very young ground will typically break-off and fall into the sea. Areas of recent lava flows continue to represent a hazard long after the lava has cooled. Where young flows have created new lands, land is more unstable and can break-off into the sea. Flows often crack