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cryovolcano
Sign in to saveAlso known as ice volcano, ice volcanoes, cryovolcanoes
alt=An image of two large cryovolcanoes|thumb|upright=1.5|Leviathan Patera (center) and [[Ruach Planitia (upper left), two large cryovolcanic features on Neptune's moon Triton]]
~26 min read
Encyclopedic overview
23 sectionsContents
- Etymology and terminology
- Types of cryovolcanism
- Explosive eruptions
- Effusive eruptions
- Mechanisms
- Ascent
- Eruption
- Cryomagma reservoirs
- Cryomagma composition
- Observations
- Ceres
- Europa
- Ganymede
- Enceladus
- Titan
- Uranian moons
- Triton
- Pluto and Charon
- Other dwarf planets
- Gallery
- See also
- Notes
- References
alt=An image of two large cryovolcanoes|thumb|upright=1.5|Leviathan Patera (center) and [[Ruach Planitia (upper left), two large cryovolcanic features on Neptune's moon Triton]]
A cryovolcano (sometimes informally referred to as an ice volcano) is a type of volcano that erupts gases and volatile material such as liquid water, ammonia, and hydrocarbons. The erupted material is collectively referred to as cryolava; it originates from a reservoir of subsurface cryomagma. Cryovolcanic eruptions can take many forms, such as fissure and curtain eruptions, effusive cryolava flows, and large-scale resurfacing, and can vary greatly in output volumes. Immediately after an eruption, cryolava quickly freezes, constructing geological features and altering the surface.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “cryovolcano” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.