What is the difference between volcanic features made by low-, medium-, and high-viscosity lava?
Explain how the viscosity of the lava leads to volcanic plains, shield volcanoes, or stratovolcanoes. Which of the terrestrial worlds have volcanic plains and shield volcanoes? Which have stratovolcanoes?” Low-viscosity lava makes volcanic plains, medium-viscosity lava makes shield volcanoes, and high-viscosity lava makes stratovolcanoes. The more viscous the lava, the steeper the volcanic feature. This is because less-viscous material is “runnier” and will flow far and flatten out before it can solidify. All of the terrestrial worlds have volcanic plains and shield volcanoes, but only Earth and Mars have stratovolcanoes. “Briefly summarize the geological history of Mercury. What is the Caloris Basin? How did Mercury gets its many huge cliffs? How and why did the geological history of Mercury differ from that of the Moon? How did we determine that Mercury has a huge iron core (relative to its size)?” Mercury has a high metal content because of its proximity to the Sun and probably beca
