Definition
Pattern of arcuate, bent, or looped ridges exposed on the surface of a lava flow or on an outcrop of cross-bedded sediment.
Synonyms
Description
Pahoehoe festoon or festoon ridge (corda) is a subtype of pressure ridge. Ridges on pahoehoe lava flows are regularly spaced ~5–50 cm apart, where the ropy surface is dragged by the underlying molten lava into festoon patterns. The morphology of festoon-like ridges and flow bands is often characterized using fractal geometry of lava flow surfaces; sizes of festoon ridges range from small-scale 2–20 cm pahoehoe ropes to meso- and large-scale features 1–100 m high with spacings ranging from 10 m to several hundred meters apart (on rhyolite flows) (Theilig and Greeley 1986, 1987).
Interpretation
The lava’s surface crust is folded when in a semisolid state during the final still-mobile stages of emplacement as viscosity increases due to cooling.
Formation
Emplaced as sheet flows from basaltic flood...
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References
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Hughes, S.S., Werner, S.C. (2014). Festoon (Lava). In: Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_149-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_149-1
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