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Magma rich in silica and poor in dissolved water is most easily cooled rapidly enough to form volcanic glass. As a result, rhyolite magmas, which are high in silica, can produce tephra composed entirely of volcanic glass and may also form glassy lava flows. [2] Ash-flow tuffs typically consist of countless microscopic shards of volcanic glass. [3]
Obsidian (/ ə b ˈ s ɪ d i. ən, ɒ b-/ əb-SID-ee-ən ob-) [5] is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. It is an igneous rock . [ 6 ]
Tachylite (/ ˈ t æ k ə l aɪ t / TAK-ə-lyte; also spelled tachylyte) is a form of basaltic volcanic glass. This glass is formed naturally by the rapid cooling of molten basalt. It is a type of mafic igneous rock that is decomposable by acids and readily fusible. [citation needed] The color is a black or dark-brown, and it has a greasy ...
Obsidian with a conchoidal fracture, some weathering, and rust-red coloring. Obsidian is volcanic glass; often black and opaque. Caldera is the type locality for a resurgent dome caldera, the formation of which was first developed by C.S. Ross, R.L. Smith, and R.A. Bailey during field work at Valles in the 1960s. [19]
Pele's hair, with a hand lens as scale Strands of Pele's hair under microscope view. Pele's hair (closest modern Hawaiian translation: "lauoho o Pele " [1]) is a volcanic glass formation produced from cooled lava stretched into thin strands, usually from lava fountains, lava cascades, or vigorous lava flows.
When heated to their melting point, terrestrial volcanic glasses turn into a foamy glass because of their content of water and other volatiles. Unlike terrestrial volcanic glass, a tektite produces only a few bubbles at most when heated to its melting point, because of its much lower water and other volatiles content. [5]
Tuff composed of sandy volcanic material can be referred to as volcanic sandstone. [ 5 ] Tuff is a relatively soft rock, so it has been used for construction since ancient times. [ 6 ]
The glass shards (mostly brown) sometimes become welded together when the deposit is still hot, and can be deformed by flow and compaction about crystal fragments (clear). Ignimbrite is primarily composed of a matrix of volcanic ash ( tephra ) which is composed of shards and fragments of volcanic glass, pumice fragments, and crystals.