Volcanic rock volcanic rock they are selling. The sub-family of rocks that form from volcanic lava are called igneous volcanic rocks (to differentiate them from igneous rocks that form from magma below the surface, called igneous plutonic rocks). The lavas of different volcanoes, when cooled and hardened, differ much in their appearance and composition. If a rhyolite lava-stream cools quickly, it can quickly freeze into a black glassy substance called obsidian. When filled with bubbles of gas, the same lava may form the spongy appearing pumice. Allowed to cool slowly, it forms a light-colored, uniformly solid rock called rhyolite. The lavas, having
Pillow lava their shape reveals the attitude, or position, in which they were originally formed. Pillow lava shows it is still in its original orientation when: Pillow lava Pillow lavas are lavas that contain characteristic pillow-shaped structures that are attributed to the extrusion of the lava under water, or "subaqueous extrusion". Pillow lavas in volcanic rock are characterized by thick sequences of discontinuous pillow-shaped masses, commonly up to one metre in diameter. They form the upper part of Layer 2 of normal oceanic crust. Pillow lavas are commonly of basaltic composition, although pillows formed of komatiite, picrite, boninite, basaltic andesite, andesite, dacite