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| Welcome to the lava tube
portion of the Virtual Cave. Lava tube caves are found throughout the
world in places where fluid lava has flown over the surface. The longest
and most vertically extensive lava tubes known are on the Big Island of
Hawaii. Our idealized lava tube cross-section and feature are based on
the tubes there, and most of the photos are from there. Lava tubes are
found in the western U.S.A. (Washington, California, Oregon, Nevada, Idaho,
New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona), the Canary Islands, Italy, Japan, Korea,
Kenya, Mexico, and other volcanic hot spots. Most tubes form when fluid
lava flows down the sides of volcanoes, the upper layer begins to cool,
and the lava beneath continues to flow in tubular conduits beneath the
surface. Due to the insulating effects of the hardened lava above, molten
lava is able to travel a considerable distance underground with very little
cooling. In Hawaii, lava tubes have carried fluid lavas 50 or more miles
from their source! Tubes may also form when lava follows trenches
or gulleys on the surface, which then roof over as lava accumulates along
the top edges. Lava tubes contain many features similar to those in limestone caves, such as stalactites and stalagmites, helictites, and a sort of flowstone. Most of the features in the diagram were made when the cave was active and during the early cooling stage. Secondary minerals may be deposited in the tubes later, such as gypsum or calcite crystals, but these tend to be on a much smaller scale than you can find in limestone caves. To take a tour of the wondrous world of lava tubes, select a feature in context on our very cool Virtual Lava Tube Map (drawn by master lava tube cartographer Carlene Allred) or choose from the list below it. There are 36 different features to learn about. |
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New! Watch a video clip of lava flowing inside an actively flowing lava tube! Clip size: 3 Mb Courtesy of |
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Created: August 4, 2000 Last update: January 25, 2007 Author: Dave Bunnell Reviewed by Kevin & Carlene Allred |