A lava coil is a spiral or scroll-shaped

lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...

formation occurring when relatively low viscosity lava such as Pahoehoe solidifies along a slow-moving

shear Shear may refer to: Textile production *Animal shearing, the collection of wool from various species **Sheep shearing *The removal of nap during wool cloth production Science and technology Engineering *Shear strength (soil), the shear strength ...

zone in the flow. The shear produces a Kelvin–Helmholtz instability that forms spiral-shaped patterns. Depending on the side of the flow the spiral is clockwise or anti-clockwise. They have been observed on flows near Kilauea on Hawai'i, in KenyaTemperley BN (1966) Vortex exudation coils on a recent basaltic lava in Kenya. Overseas Geol Mineral. Resour. 10:42-46 and possibly on Mars. File:lava coil.png, Surface of December 31, 1974 pahoehoe northeast of Pu‘u Koa ́e, Hawaii. Lava coil is 10 m diameter. File:Weird-Lava-flows-on-Mars.jpg, Spirals interpreted to be lava coils on the surface of a Martian lava lake in

Cerberus Palus Cerberus Palus is a plain in the Elysium quadrangle of Mars, centered at . It is 470 km across and was named after a classical albedo feature Cerberus. Cerberus Palus once contained a lake fed by Athabasca Valles and draining into Lethe Val ...

. Field of view is about 500 m.

References

Volcanology Igneous rocks {{igneous-rock-stub