Why one college professor is bubbling up big vats of homemade lava

The Washington Post reports on a new project in which UB geologists are making their own lava to study the interaction between lava and water — a phenomenon that’s common in nature, but poorly understood. Lava-water reactions can enhance the explosive potential of ice-covered volcanoes, such as Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull, whose 2010 eruption unleashed an ash cloud that grounded air traffic across much of Europe for nearly a week. The new research will yield insight on why the two substances sometimes generate huge explosions when they come together, and sometimes cause no damage at all. The story quotes Ingo Sonder, a researcher in UB’s Center for GeoHazards Studies. The article includes a video and infographic created by University Communications.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/06/23/why-one-college-professor-is-bubbling-up-big-vats-of-homemade-lava/