Limu o Pele or Pele's seaweed ( Hawaiian, literally "seaweed of Pele" after Pele the Hawaiian fire goddess of

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are ...

es) is a geological term for thin sheets and subsequently shattered flakes of brownish-green to near-colorless

volcanic glass Volcanic glass is the amorphous (uncrystallized) product of rapidly cooling magma. Like all types of glass, it is a state of matter intermediate between the closely packed, highly ordered array of a crystal and the highly disordered array of liqu ...

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 ...

spatter, commonly resembling

seaweed Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of '' Rhodophyta'' (red), ''Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ''Chlorophyta'' (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such as ...

in appearance, that have been erupted from a

. Limu o Pele is formed when water is forced into and trapped inside lava, as when waves wash over the top of the exposed flows of the molten rock. The water boils and is instantly converted to steam, expanding to form bubbles within the lava. The lava rapidly cools and solidifies as the bubbles grow. The volcanic glass bubbles burst and are dispersed by the wind, showering flakes of glass downwind. Limu o Pele has been found around subaerial

littoral The littoral zone or nearshore is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely inundated), to coastal areas ...

volcanic cones Volcanic cones are among the simplest volcanic landforms. They are built by ejecta from a volcanic vent, piling up around the vent in the shape of a cone with a central crater. Volcanic cones are of different types, depending upon the nature and ...

and also at

submarine volcano Submarine volcanoes are underwater vents or fissures in the Earth's surface from which magma can erupt. Many submarine volcanoes are located near areas of tectonic plate formation, known as mid-ocean ridges. The volcanoes at mid-ocean ridges ...

es, for example, on the summit of Kamaʻehuakanaloa (formerly Lōʻihi)

seamount A seamount is a large geologic landform that rises from the ocean floor that does not reach to the water's surface (sea level), and thus is not an island, islet or cliff-rock. Seamounts are typically formed from extinct volcanoes that rise abru ...

.Clague, D. A. et al. (2000) ''Lava bubble-wall fragments formed by submarine hydrovolcanic explosions on Lōʻihi Seamount and Kılauea Volcano'', Bulletin of Volcanology, volume 61 pages 437–449.

References

External links

Limu o Pele - USGS Photo Glossary
* ttp://www.mbari.org/expeditions/ridges2005/august_15.htm Images of Limu o Pele, MBARI Ridges 2005 Expedition Volcanology Glass in nature Hawaiian words and phrases {{volcanology-stub he:היאלוקלאסטיט#אצת פלה

See also

References

External links