earth science

Lava lake

Lava lake is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Lava lake rather than just read about it. In short: Lava lakes are large volumes of molten lava, usually basaltic, contained in a volcanic vent, crater, or broad depression. The term is used to describe both lava lakes that are wholly or partly molten and those that are solidified (sometimes referred to as frozen lava lakes).

Key takeaways

Lava lake belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Lava lake to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Lava lake from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Lava lakes are large volumes of molten lava, usually basaltic, contained in a volcanic vent, crater, or broad depression. The term is used to describe both lava lakes that are wholly or partly molten and those that are solidified (sometimes referred to as frozen lava lakes).

Formation Lava lakes can form in three ways:

from one or more vents in a crater that erupts enough lava to partially fill the crater; or when lava pours into a crater or broad depression and partially fills the crater; or atop a new vent that erupts lava continuously for a period of several weeks or more and slowly builds a crater progressively higher than the surrounding ground.

Behaviors Lava lakes occur in a variety of volcanic systems, ranging from the basaltic Erta Ale lake in Ethiopia and the basaltic andesite volcano of Villarrica, Chile, to the unique phonolitic lava lake at Mt. Erebus, Antarctica. Lava lakes have been observed to exhibit a range of behaviours. A "constantly circulating, apparently steady-state" lava lake was observed during the 1969–1971 Mauna Ulu eruption of Kīlauea, Hawaiʻi. By contrast, a lava lake at the 1983–1984 Puʻu ʻŌʻō eruption of Kilauea displayed cyclic behaviour with a period of 5–20 minutes; gas "pierced the surface" of the lake, and the lava rapidly drained back down the conduit before the onset of a new phase of lake activity. The behaviour observed is influenced by the combined effects of pressure within the reservoir, exsolution and decompression of gas bubbles within the conduit and, potentially, exsolution of bubbles within the magma reservoir. Superimposed upon this is the effect of bubbles rising through the liquid, and coalescence of bubbles within the conduit. The interactions of these effects can create either a steady-state recirculating lake, or a lake level that periodically rises and then falls.

Notable examples Persistent lava lakes are a rare phenomenon. Only a few volcanoes have hosted persistent or near-persistent lava lakes during recent decades:

Mount Erebus, Ross Island, Antarctica Erta Ale, Ethiopia Kīlauea, Big Island, Hawaiʻi Masaya volcano, Nicaragua Mount Michael, Saunders Island, South Sandwich Islands Mount Nyiragongo, Democratic Republic of the Congo Mount Yasur, Vanuatu Tofua, Tonga The lava lakes at Ambrym volcano disappeared after a large eruption in December 2018. For many years, Kīlauea had two persistent lava lakes: one in the Halemaʻumaʻu vent cavity within the summit caldera, and another within the Puʻu ʻŌʻō cone located on the east rift zone of the volcano. In May 2018, both of these lava lakes disappeared as a result of increased activity in Kīlauea's east rift zone. The lava lake at Halemaʻumaʻu returned in December 2020, after Kīlauea's first eruption in over two years. The lava lake solidified after the eruption ended in May 2021, but returned again when eruptive activity at Halemaʻumaʻu resumed on September 29, 2021. Following the 2021 eruption, three more occurred on January 5, 2023; June 7, 2023; and September 10, 2023. As of December 2025, Halemaʻumaʻu is erupting episodically, however no lava lake has formed Nyiragongo's lava lake has usually been the largest and most voluminous in recent history, reaching 700 meters wide in 1982, although Masaya is believed to have hosted an even larger lava lake at the time of the Spanish conquest, being 1,000 meters wide in 1670. The lava lake at Masaya came back in January 2016. In addition to the aforementioned persistent lava lakes, a certain number of occurrences of temporary lava lakes (sometimes called lava ponds or lava pools, depending on their size and nature) have also been observed and are listed in the following table.

List of volcanoes having displayed past or present lava lake activity

See also Kīlauea Iki – solidified lava lake in a pit crater Types of volcanic eruptions – Volcanic eventPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets

References This article incorporates public domain material from "Lava lake". Volcano Hazards Program Photo Glossary. United States Geological Survey.

External links

Lava lake in Nyiragongo Volcano crater. Video on France 24 TV Into the mouth of a volcano, video footage of lava lake in Vanuatu's Marum volcano

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Lava lake

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Lava lake claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Lava lake before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Lava lake ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Lava lake

In research: Lava lake appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Lava lake in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Lava lake is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Lava lakes, Volcanic landforms, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Lava lake outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Lava lake in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Lava lake means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Lava lake out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lava lake in simple terms?

Why does Lava lake matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Lava lake?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Lava lake.