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Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms pp 1–5Cite as

Coulée

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Definition

Thick extrusion of viscous lava representing the transition between and exhibiting the characteristics of both lava dome and lava flow.

Synonyms

Hybrid of lava flow and lava dome; Lobate lava dome

Description

Lava extrusion with characteristics of both a lava dome and a lava flow; composed of viscous lava (Fink and Anderson 2000).

Morphometry

Coulées range in length from a few km (Big Obsidian Flow (Fig. 1), North and South Coulées at Mono Craters) to well over 10 km (Chao coulee, northern Chile), with thicknesses of flow fronts ~50–400 m. They often exhibit distinct bulbous lobes of thick lava that can be traced back to an elevated “summit” that lies directly above the volcanic vent. Thick flow lobes may be mostly obsidian, have blocky surfaces, and possibly produce levees. Lobes typically exhibit large pressure ridges (ogives) that run perpendicular to flow direction, and where interiors are exposed, they display ramp structure, formed when extruding lava forces earlier...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geosciences, Idaho State University, Pocatello, ID, USA

    Scott S. Hughes

Authors
  1. Scott S. Hughes
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Correspondence to Scott S. Hughes .

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© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Hughes, S.S. (2014). Coulée. In: Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_70-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_70-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-9213-9

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