Why is lava called magma underground and it is called lava when it
is on the surface of the earth?
Jacob Alison
Hi Jacob,
That's a good question. My first answer is that it is just for
convenience, so that you know what the other person is talking about.
You might think of the example of dough and cookies. They are the same
stuff, only that after you bake dough it has become cookies, and they
have different names so that we know what you are talking about. Maybe
that isn't the best example.
My second answer was going to be after I looked up "magma" and "lava" in
a big fat dictionary, but after doing so I decided that I would make
things even more unclear. The main reason is just so that geologists can
be more specific about what they are talking about. Otherwise we'd
always have to be saying things like "the magma that is above ground is
flowing quickly towards the town" and "the magma that is still
underground is migrating through the volcano and we expect it to erupt soon."
Sincerely,
Scott Rowland
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