Image: Aa large

Description: Glowing `a`a lava flow front advancing over pahoehoe lava on the coastal plain of Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii. 'A'a (pronounced "ah-ah") is a Hawaiian term for lava flows that have a rough rubbly surface composed of broken lava blocks called clinkers. The incredibly spiny surface of a solidified 'a'a flow makes walking very difficult and slow. The clinkery surface actually covers a massive dense core, which is the most active part of the flow. As pasty lava in the core travels downslope, the clinkers are carried along at the surface. At the leading edge of an 'a'a flow, however, these cooled fragments tumble down the steep front and are buried by the advancing flow. This produces a layer of lava fragments both at the bottom and top of an 'a'a flow.
Title: Aa large
Credit: http://web.archive.org/web/20080127043104/http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/Products/Pglossary/aa.html
Author: USGS[2]
Permission: This image is in the public domain in the United States because it only contains materials that originally came from the United States Geological Survey, an agency of the United States Department of the Interior. For more information, see the official USGS copyright policy. Български | Català | Čeština | Deutsch | English | Español | Eesti | فارسی | Suomi | Français | Galego | Italiano | 日本語 | 한국어 | Македонски | മലയാളം | Nederlands | Polski | Português | Русский | Sicilianu | Türkçe | 中文 | 中文（简体）‎ | +/−
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No