Word Of The Day

Phreatomagmatic eruption:

Phreatomagmatic eruptions are volcanic eruptions resulting from interaction between magma and water. They differ from exclusively magmatic eruptions and phreatic eruptions. Unlike phreatic eruptions, the products of phreatomagmatic eruptions contain juvenile (magmatic) clasts. It is common for a large explosive eruption to have magmatic and phreatomagmatic components. [Wikipedia]

Noted in “Icelandic volcano erupts, turning sky orange and forcing evacuations,” Annabelle Timsit and Kasha Patel, WaPo:

As The Washington Post reported, that explosive eruption vividly demonstrated what happens when hot lava meets freezing cold water. Known as a phreatomagmatic eruption, the molten rock — magma — made contact with ice and meltwater and flashed to steam. But the volcanic system on the Reykjanes Peninsula is far from the glaciers of Iceland.

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