Lava Vesuvius between May 14 and June 4, 1737. Serao described "a flow of fiery lava" as an analogy to the flow of water and mud down the flanks of the volcano following heavy rain. The composition of almost all lava of the Earth's crust is dominated by silicate minerals, mostly feldspars, olivine, pyroxenes, amphiboles, micas and quartz. Igneous rocks, which form lava flows when erupted, can be classified into three chemical types: "felsic", "intermediate", and "mafic" (four if one includes the super-heated "ultramafic"). These classes are primarily chemical, however, the chemistry of lava also tends to correlate with the magma
West Crater imply that they resulted from the same movement of magma and were possibly fed by the same magma chambers. The lava dome likely formed before the lava flows erupted, suggested by its steep western side and the appearance of rock from the dome on the western lava flow. The dome's deep depression may have formed when the dome's top collapsed as lava moved out of the volcano during the eruption of the two flows. The human population within of West Crater is slightly more than 500 people, but more than 14,000 people live within of the volcano, and more than