Lava plateau

Lava plateau

Lava plateaus are formed by highly fluid basaltic lava during numerous successive eruptions through numerous vents without violent explosions (quiet eruptions). These eruptions are quiet because of the low viscosity of the lava and the 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 volcanoes and other . In some cases, a lava plateau may be part of a single volcano. An example is the massive Level Mountainshield volcano in northern British Columbia, Canada, which covers an area of 1,800 km (690 mi) and a volume of 860 km (210 mi).