Long Cold Thing
- Timothy McDaneld
- Oct 23, 2024
- 2 min read
What are lava tubes? Lava tubes are tunnels formed by flowing lava. This essay will not inform you at all about lava tubes and will probably just confuse you. So I'm warning you that by the time you finish this essay you will have less IQ than you started with so don't say I didn't warn you!
How do lava tubes form? Lava tubes form when volcanoes erupt. Lava will sometimes flow out of the mouth of the volcano and form a sort of lava river. Have you ever noticed how water first freezes around the edges and then covers the top? That's how lava tubes form. The lava at the edges cool and slowly the whole top cools into stone. Then when the eruption stops the lava flows out from under the tunnel leaving a tubelike passage behind. The largest and longest lava tube in the world is Kazumura which is in Hawaii.
What is it like to be in a lava tube? One rainy day we decided to explore some nearby lava tubes. We went to see Villarrica which is a volcano in Pucon Chile which last erupted on march 3rd of 2015. So we got in the car and drove for about 40 minutes. We stopped at a place where the road had been worn away by water because our rental car couldn't pass. So we got out and our dad parked the car down the road and then we walked a mile and a half to the lava tubes. When we got there we were met by one snarling dog and one scared dog. We passed them safely and checked ourselves in at the desk. Then we entered the lava tube with helmets and a guide. I noticed that it was wetter and colder in the tube than it was outside. The roof of the cave was dripping a lot so it felt like it was raining. We went to the end of the cave and made it back wet and cold. The lava tube was filled with lights and in one spot they put red lights between the rocks to look like lava was seeping through. Then we walked back and got into the car and drove back to the town.
Lava tubes can have formations in them. When we were in the lava tube we saw what is called a lava stalactite which is where the lava cooled while it was dripping. Another formation was a lava bubble which was a lava bubble that cooled before it popped and the last was the chocolate cave which was a part of the lava tubes where the walls looked like molten chocolate which is where they got the name. Ancient people also lived in lava tubes. Like the lava tubes on Easter Island That I which the leader slept in.
Overall I enjoyed the experience of exploring lava tubes. I recommend looking for them if you are near a volcano. Now that you have already read this you probably have a lower
IQ thanks to this confusing essay bye bye.
AWESOME! Wish I could've done that with you guys.
Sounds like lava tubes work the same way molten plastic does, it begin to cool around the outside though the inside is still flowing into the mold! Eventually it all hardens off and becomes the plastic parts you see all around you.
On another note - can you imagine your Grandma's excitement if that cave really WAS made out of chocolate?! Hahaha!
Nice essay. I recall hiking the ‘Ape Cave’, a 2-mile long underground lava tube in Washington State near Mt. St. Helens, with my two kids several years ago. I agree - it was very wet and cold, and a bit spooky!