The Many Forms of Ice and Lava

The insane shapes of fire and ice.

Published 1 month ago

Liquid fire and solid water are fascinating enough as they are, but they can take shapes you probably haven’t seen before.

Lava is beautiful and terrifying, and every form of it is more dangerous than the last. Pillow lava emerges out of the ocean in giant round ribbons, carbonatite lava forms structures that look dark and demonic. Some lava even dries as razor-sharp strands that look like hair. Ice may be even weirder in what it can twist into. There are beautiful fields of ice blooms, forest floors scattered with hair ice, and miles of mountains covered in sharp frozen pillars.

Check out the two most extreme forms of the elements showing off how insane they can look.

1
Pillow Lava
Lava that emerges out of underwater volcano hotspots.

2
Solidified Pillow Lava

3
Field of Solidified Pillow Lava
4
Blocky Lava
Blocky flows are common if the silica content of lavas is higher

5
Emulsified Blocky Lava
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Solidified Blocky Lava
7
Pahoehoe Lava
A smooth and continuous lava crust. Pahoehoe forms when the effusion rate is low and consequently the velocity of lava flow is slow

8
Pahoehoe Lava solidifying in ribbons
9
Pahoehoe Lava flowing
10
Pele’s Hair
Thin glass fibers that form when gas bubbles within lava burst at the lava's surface.

11
Blue lava
Magma can turn blue as a result of burning sulfur gases in the atmosphere.
12
Carbonatite lava
Found in Tanzania’s “Mountain of God”
13
Penitentes
Ice that forms in high-altitude when the sun rays turn snow directly into water vapor without melting it first.

14
Penitentes in the Andes Mountain Range
15
A Field of Penitentes
Tourist in a field of Penitentes in the Andes.
16
Frost flowers
Blooms of ice that form on dead plant-life.

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Frost flowers on a forest floor.
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A field of frost flowers on Lake Akan, Japan.
19
Needle Ice
Ice that appears once moisture on soil reaches freezing temperatures.