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Lava Channel

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  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms

Definition

On Earth, “a long open trough, on or in a lava flow, occupied or formerly occupied by a lava stream” (Larson 1992).

Category

A type of lava flow.

Synonyms

Channelized lava flow

Description

“A channel on the upper surface of a partly or completely solidified body of lava through which liquid lava has flowed” (Masursky et al. 1978; Larson 1992). Lava channels are contained within marginal zones of solid and stationary lava, or raised rims (lava levees) (Fig. 1). Incipient channels may lack levees (Harris et al. 2009). Lava channels are commonly accompanied with volcanic sources and terminal lava flows (Kargel 1994). They may be straight or sinuous. Complex channels, as defined on Venus, have braiding or anastomosing reaches.

Lava Channel, Fig. 1
figure 1238 figure 1238

Leveed channels in lava flow showing ridges in Western Arsia Mons near Mangala Fossa, Mars near 17°S, 212°E. CTX: B20_017625_1641_XI_15S147W (NASA/JPL/MSSS)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. NASA Ames Research Center/NPP, MS 239-20, 94035, Moffett Field, CA, USA

    Henrik Hargitai

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  1. Henrik Hargitai
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Correspondence to Henrik Hargitai .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. NASA Ames Research Center/NPP, Moffett Field, CA, USA

    Henrik Hargitai

  2. Konkoly Thege Miklos Astronomical Institute, Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, Budapest, Hungary

    Ákos Kereszturi

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Hargitai, H. (2015). Lava Channel. In: Hargitai, H., Kereszturi, Á. (eds) Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3134-3_221

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