IGNEOUS PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS

 Igneous processes
 Volcanism
 Extrusion of rock matter
from Earth’s subsurface
and the creation of
mountains of hills
 Plutonism
 Igneous processes that
occur below Earth’s
surface, including the
cooling of magma
 May be exposed
eventually at Earth’s
surface
IGNEOUS PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS
 Volcanic eruptions
 Natural processes
 Large eruptions can be
devastating
 Vary greatly in size and
character
 Resulting landform varies
 Two main types of Eruptions:
 Explosive – violently blast
molten and solid rock into
the air
 Effusive – molten lava pours
less violently as flowing
streams of lava
IGNEOUS PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS
 Volcanic eruptions
 Mineral composition
 Silican rich felsic with basalt
(higher viscosity) have streams of
flowing lava (effusive)
 Mafic magmas (lower viscosity)

 Silican rich magmas with rhyolite

builds up pressure creating:

 Violent eruptions

 Pyroclastic materials (fire

fragments called tephra)

IGNEOUS PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS
 Volcanic eruptions
 Pyroclastic materials
range in size from
volcanic ash:
 Sand-sized (< 2mm)
 Cinders (2-4 mm)

 Lapilli (4-64 mm)

 Blocks (> 64 mm)

 Some eruptions can eject

volcanic aerosol clouds
that circle the globe
(1991 Mt. Pinatubo) Why do you think conditions
were like at the time of this
eruption for settlements
located under the ash cloud?
IGNEOUS PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS
 Volcanic landforms
 Depends primarily on explosiveness
 6 major kinds (least explosive to most
explosive)
Lava flows

Shield Volcanoes

Cinder Cones

Composite Cones

Plug Domes

Calderas
IGNEOUS PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS
 Lava flows
 Layers of erupted rock
matter that poured over
the landscape when they
were molten
 Basalt is the most
common (low viscosity)
 Small potential for
explosive eruption
 Solidified lava has many
fractures called joints
and columnar-jointed Why are the cliffs shown in
basalt flows this photograph so steep?
IGNEOUS PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS
 Lava flows
 Paloehoe are ropy
surfaces
 A’a are sharp-edged,
jagged blocks
 Fissures
 Flood basalts
 Basalt plateaus
 Columbia plateau

 Deccan plateau in
India
IGNEOUS PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS
 Shield volcanoes
 Numerous basaltic lava
flows piling up
 Gently sloping, dome
shaped cone
 Hawaii
 Not very explosive,
although still damaging
IGNEOUS PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS
 Shield
volcanoes
Why do Hawaiian volcanoes erupt less explosively
than volcanoes of the Cascades or Andes?
IGNEOUS PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS
 Cinder cones
 Smallest type of
volcano
 Rhyolite composition
 Steep, straight sides
and a large crater in the
center
 Angle of repose
 Examples:
 Craters of the Moon, ID
 Sunset Crater, AZ Why is the crater so
prominent on this volcano?
IGNEOUS PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS
 Composite cones
 Effusive or explosive
 Composite of lava and
pyroclastic
 Stratovolcanoes
 Pyroclastic flows
 Concave slopes that are
gentle near the base and
steep near the top
 Fujiyama, Vesuvius, Rainer,
Mt. St Helens, and more
IGNEOUS PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS
 Composite cones

Along what type of

lithospheric plate
boundary is this
volcano located?
IGNEOUS PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS
 Composite cones
Could other volcanoes
in the Cascade Range,
such as Oregon’s
Mount Hood, erupt
with the kind of
violence that Mount
St. Helens displayed in
1980?
IGNEOUS PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS
 Composite cones
 Examples:
 Krakotoa (1883 and
subsequent tsunami)
 Mount Pinatubo (1991)

 Montserrat (1997)

 Fatalities

 Mexico City is
threatened
IGNEOUS PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS
 Plug domes
 Viscous silica-rich
magma pushed into a
vent
 Dome shaped summit
and jagged blocks make
up cone on steep
sloping sides
IGNEOUS PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS
 Plug domes
 Lassen Peak, CA

Why are plug dome

volcanoes
considered
dangerous?
IGNEOUS PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS
 Calderas
 Large depression
 Crater Lake
 Yellowstone

Could other Cascade

volcanoes erupt to the
point of destroying the
volcano summit and
leaving a caldera?
IGNEOUS PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS
 Plutonism and
intrusions
 Igneous intrusions
(plutons)
 Classified by size,
shape, and
relationships to
surrounding rocks
 Stock
 batholith
 Laccolith
IGNEOUS PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS
 Laccoliths
 Henry and La Sal
mountains in southern
Utah

How do laccoliths
deform the rocks they
are intruded in?
IGNEOUS PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS
 Sill
 Palisades along
Hudson River, NY

Why does the sill at

the Palisades form a
cliff?
IGNEOUS PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS
 Dike
 New Mexico

How does a dike differ

from a sill?

 Volcanic neck
 Shiprock, New Mexico