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A 'volcanic plateau' is a plateau produced by volcanic activity. There are two main types: lava plateaus and pyroclastic plateaus.

Contents

Lava plateau

Pyroclastic plateau

See also

References

Lava plateau

Lava plateaus are formed by highly fluid mafic lava (the older term is ''basic lava'') during numerous successive eruptions through numerous vents without violent explosions (quiet eruptions). These eruptions are quiet because of low viscosity of mafic lava, so that it is very fluid and contains small amount of trapped gases. The resulting sheet lava flows may be extruded from linear fissures or rifts or gigantic volcanic eruptions through multiple vents characteristic of the prehistoric era which produced giant flood basalts. Multiple successive and extensive lava flows cover the original landscape to eventually form a plateau, which may contain lava fields, cinder cones, shield volcanos and other s.
The Earth features numerous subaerial and submarine volcanic plateaus such as the Columbia River Plateau (subaerial) and the vast Ontong Java Plateau (submarine).

Pyroclastic plateau

Pyroclastic plateaus are produced by massive pyroclastic flows and they are underlain by pyroclastic rocks: agglomerates, tephra, volcanic ashes cemented into tuffs, mafic or felsic.
Example include Shirasu-Daichi, which covers almost whole Southern Kyūshū, Japan,^[1], and the North Island Volcanic Plateau in New Zealand.

See also

★ Lava plain

References

1. Landforms of Kuyshu