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Confusion over the meaning of "magma" can generate popular misperceptions, including a nonexistent molten sea underneath Yellowstone National Park. We propose a different definition.
Magma is a fundamental constituent of the Earth. Issues as diverse as volcanic hazard assessment and planetary evolution studies rely on knowledge of magma’s properties, origin, evolution, and significance. Thus, the definition of “magma” should be simple and universally agreed upon, but the term means fundamentally different things to different people.
This inconsistency has led to miscommunication between petrologists, geophysicists, the press, and the public, making the “confused or disordered” definition of the word unintentionally appropriate. It is time to agree on a clearer geologic definition of “magma.”
To the public, magma is the stuff of lava—hot, glowing red liquid that flows out of volcanoes—and such lava is unquestionably magma that has reached the surface. The point of contention is whether partially molten rock that resides below the surface and is too crystalline to flow should also be called magma.
Because this distinction is critical when geologists communicate about magma, especially to the press and public, we contend that highly crystalline immobile material should not be called “magma.” Rather, magma should mean material that is capable of moving within the Earth and onto its surface.
Read more here. (Eos)
Magma is a fundamental constituent of the Earth. Issues as diverse as volcanic hazard assessment and planetary evolution studies rely on knowledge of magma’s properties, origin, evolution, and significance. Thus, the definition of “magma” should be simple and universally agreed upon, but the term means fundamentally different things to different people.
This inconsistency has led to miscommunication between petrologists, geophysicists, the press, and the public, making the “confused or disordered” definition of the word unintentionally appropriate. It is time to agree on a clearer geologic definition of “magma.”
To the public, magma is the stuff of lava—hot, glowing red liquid that flows out of volcanoes—and such lava is unquestionably magma that has reached the surface. The point of contention is whether partially molten rock that resides below the surface and is too crystalline to flow should also be called magma.
Because this distinction is critical when geologists communicate about magma, especially to the press and public, we contend that highly crystalline immobile material should not be called “magma.” Rather, magma should mean material that is capable of moving within the Earth and onto its surface.
Read more here. (Eos)
