The fluid dynamics of expanding lava deltas

EPSRC : Jesse Taylor-West : EP/R513179/1

When lava enters the ocean, the molten rock spreads out and solidifies, creating a new shelf of land known as a lava delta. There have been a number of significant examples of such events over the last few years, notably at Kilauea, Hawaii in 2018, and Cumbre Vieja, La Palma in 2021. The physics of these events are complex, with changes to the driving buoyancy force due to the higher density of the ambient water relative to air, and rheological changes occurring due to the rapid cooling of the molten material.

We will formulate continuum models to capture the dominant physical processes and these models will be analysed and integrated numerically to yield predictions that can be compared with observations.