<p><a href="https://youtu.be/F0tmu-zaXig?t=81" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://youtu.be/F0tmu-zaXig?t=81</a><br/><a href="https://youtu.be/m3okcIdkLjk?t=452" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://youtu.be/m3okcIdkLjk?t=452</a></p>
<p>These lava flows have cooler, solidified lava in the center, and hotter, molten lava on their flanks, pretty consistently across every stream of the flow. However, it seems to me like the opposite should occur, for the same reason lava cools from the outside in. The outside edge of the flow is in contact with the cooler surrounding rock, so it should cool first. Does this have anything to do with the faster speed of the lava in the center? I can't find anything about the relative cooling of different locations of lava flows online.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-12-20T08:38:02.510Z
My interpretation of the videos you link to is not that the lava flow is solidifying in the center, but that the surface, exposed to air, of the central regional has cooled more rapidly than the surface of the peripheries.
Fred
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-12-20T18:20:52.537Z
what i see in the videos are mixing of lava at the sides of the stream and less mixing in the middle,so the top layer get more time to cool down.
trond hansen
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-12-22T06:27:01.810Z
By 'mixing of lava', do you mean with the air or the lava itself? Does the mixing have to do with the greater speed of the lava in the center? What's going on specifically at [these sections](https://postimg.cc/fJGVLgTM) of the stream?
S.M.
<volcanology>
Why do lava flows solidify faster in the center rather than the margins?
S.M.
# Why do lava flows solidify faster in the center rather than the margins?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2023-12-20)

<https://youtu.be/F0tmu-zaXig?t=81>  
<https://youtu.be/m3okcIdkLjk?t=452>

These lava flows have cooler, solidified lava in the center, and hotter, molten lava on their flanks, pretty consistently across every stream of the flow. However, it seems to me like the opposite should occur, for the same reason lava cools from the outside in. The outside edge of the flow is in contact with the cooler surrounding rock, so it should cool first. Does this have anything to do with the faster speed of the lava in the center? I can't find anything about the relative cooling of different locations of lava flows online.

**Tags:** volcanology

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: My interpretation of the videos you link to is not that the lava flow is solidifying in the center, but that the surface, exposed to air, of the central regional has cooled more rapidly than the surface of the peripheries.  
> **username_2**: what i see in the videos are mixing of lava at the sides of the stream and less mixing in the middle,so the top layer get more time to cool down.  
> **username_0**: By 'mixing of lava', do you mean with the air or the lava itself? Does the mixing have to do with the greater speed of the lava in the center? What's going on specifically at [these sections](https://postimg.cc/fJGVLgTM) of the stream?  

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## 0 answers

