Lava Fountains Shoot Hundreds of Metres Up. What Powers Them Isn't Settled.
At Mount Etna, in Hawaii and in Iceland, lava does not always leave the ground at a walkable pace. It gets thrown up in fountains that can reach several hundred metres in height — and what powers those fountains is still an open question. Hotspot volcanism, the setting behind several of these sites, is usually far less theatrical than that. The jets are the exception worth explaining, and the explanation isn't settled yet.
AI-generated discussion · Different perspectives
Take
Several hundred metres of molten rock is the spectacle. The more interesting problem is that nobody can yet say what drives it — the show has outrun the explanation.
Pushback
Three fountaining episodes at Kilauea since 1823 is a thin record to reason from. Catching the next episode well may matter more than adding another theory.