When Volcanoes Erupt Metallic Lava; A Geologic Oddity

Approximately 2 million years ago, a volcano in a remote and arid part of the world erupted, leaving behind large amounts of metallic cooled lava. This occurred at Chile's El Laco volcano, and the reason this occurred is quite extraordinary. The lava was not primarily composed of silica like 99.9% of the planet's lavas, but rather iron oxide. These iron oxide rich lavas are today worth more than 80 billion U.S. dollars.
Thumbnail Photo Credit: U.S. Geological Survey (Data Owner), Peterson, D.W. (Photographer), "Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. 1972-1974 eruption of Kilauea Volcano. Skylight in lava tube feeding Kaena Point flow. 1972.", USGS Denver Library Photographic Collection, Public Domain, library.usgs.gov/photo/index..... This image was overlaid with text and then overlaid with GeologyHub made graphics (the image border & the GeologyHub logo).
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Sources/Citations:
[1] Keller, T., Tornos, F., Hanchar, J.M. et al. Genetic model of the El Laco magnetite-apatite deposits by extrusion of iron-rich melt. Nat Commun 13, 6114 (2022). doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-33.... CC BY 4.0.
[2] Ovalle, J.T., La Cruz, N.L., Reich, M. et al. Formation of massive iron deposits linked to explosive volcanic eruptions. Sci Rep 8, 14855 (2018). doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-33.... CC BY 4.0.
[3] Pietruszka, D.K., Hanchar, J.M., Tornos, F. et al. Magmatic immiscibility and the origin of magnetite-(apatite) iron deposits. Nat Commun 14, 8424 (2023). doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-43.... CC BY 4.0.
[4] U.S. Geological Survey
[5] USGS Denver Library Photographic Collection
0:00 Iron Lavas
1:20 El Laco Deposit
2:09 Other Iron Deposits
3:01 Ol Doinyo Lengai
3:24 Scientific Model

[@Furry-xr4hp]

That's kinda metal

[@comradecid]

"Iron Lava" is my new band name.

[@tomarmadiyer2698]

As much metal as banjo metal

[@rubidiumeater]

why does this make me unreasonably furious

[@ModernProspector]

That's heavy duty Doc.

[@petracastro6021]

Iron ore contains around 63-65% of iron. Is iron ore "a kind of metal, then"?

[@AaronGeo]

New lava just dropped

[@TheRandom_Channel_idk]

Actual molten rock

[@ceschudeck]

Not really, read about the Cretaceous iron belt in northern Chile

[@thecamocampaindude5167]

100th like

[@Vesuviusisking]

You’re one of the most underrated channels

[@calci2679]

Seconded

[@Enonymouse_]

Wish they would pick someone else to voice this, I like their content, but this monotone ' tallking through your nose' manner of speech is near impossible to tolerate. 😢

[@Jameson1776]

@@Enonymouse_who’s they? He produces this channel himself. Also there is subtitles.

[@newq]

Geology in general is underrated by most people who are interested in science.

[@stephenwhelan2515]

@@Enonymouse_each to their own I suppose- i rather like his voice, its individual and if your listening on earbuds it immediately identifies the channel. Plus it is not AI!

[@robertnichols2283]

That must make for one hell of a magnetic anomaly

[@dianevanderflier5444]

I wonder how that anomaly shows up? Does it impact the weather?

[@nortyfiner]

@@dianevanderflier5444 Not the weather, but the Earth's magnetic field in that local area is probably pretty wonky. "OK, the sun is setting over there, so that's west, but why is my compass pointing at it?"

[@whatfreedom7]

@@nortyfinerI would imagine it could drive a compass nuts.

[@destructurateurmoleculaire6095]

Et bien au contraire je pense qu'il n'apparaît rien, l'extrême chaleur du métal l'empêchant de se structurer, le magnétisme doit grandement diminuer.

[@enzonavarro8550]

Ever heard of the south atlantic anomaly? It's that

[@scifrygaming]

Iron mountain in southwest Utah is a magnitite intrusion being mined for Iron ore.

[@BOEING--mh6xm]

Oh wow I’ve never known that and it’s actually kinda near to me and I’m in Utah as well wow thank you

[@KijuanLindsey]

Oh is it now

[@AankerStoneshield]

Would be cool if you wanted to talk about the unique geology of the Kiruna mine, especially since a recent survey established that there are significant REE deposits in an adjacent ore body

[@GeologyHub]

I can always do this in a future video :)

[@garfieldlover6416]

​@@GeologyHubcan you do a video on the lava beds

[@arrionelton]

A new achievement has been discovered: you have studied iron volcanoes.

[@yochva]

"This may surprise even volcanologists, since silica is the basis for 1,349 of Earth's 1,350 volcanoes." Made me snort my drink in surprised laughter. I love your dry turn of phrase.

[@Discotekh_Dynasty]

A volcano that did this consistently with Molten Iron or other commonly used metal would be so useful

[@Randomwyomingguy]

There's one in Antarctica that erupts about $6000 in gold every day.

[@billcarruth8122]

Considering how much gas would be needed to push hundreds of millions of tons of iron through caldera cracks and up to the surface, I imagine everything nearby was killed off.

[@Discotekh_Dynasty]

@@Randomwyomingguy brb taking my coat and shovel

[@Einwetok]

Cost vs. risk. There's guys in South America that mine elemental sulfur inside active calderas. Life's pretty short for them. Like the guys that get in barrels of mercury and stomp gold accumulations.

[@johnnyc2764]

Love this type of video. Please do more!

[@baystated]

Wow I bet those lava flows will mess with your compass needles.

[@user-nd7rg5er5g]

I'm not usually into geology, but I gotta admit that this fascinated me to learn about! Thanks for making this video about such a rarity!

[@jensenchavez265]

What an awesome video.

[@nfrandom3701]

Ol Doinyo Lengai and this volcano are truly strange.

[@tomkzinti2760]

I would Like on more of your videos if you had a longer outro to give me a chance to grab my TV remote and give it to ya. With the short cutoff, I get no chance. Thanks for all the hard work narrating and the interesting topics/material and the accurate, professional facts of the matters at hand. Good job, man.

[@MinasK.97]

The Geldingadalir 2021 eruption produced 2 types of lava basaltic black then the eruption output was normal, and metallic grey then it was doing the pauses with the big fountains and that lava it was forming pools if you remember. It was different lava from deeper source I believe You can see it on the cooled lava field, it is one black and one grey lava

[@user-pi4wj7bm4z]

Thanks for the geological lesson which covers volcanos.I am learning much.Keep up the informative, well presented video.Greg 😊.

[@imqqmi]

Absolutely fascinating bits of vulcanology!

[@ausnorman8050]

That was amazing. Thank you for explaining and showing a completely new (to me) geological phenomenon!

[@xwiick]

Thanks for all of your hard work man!

[@bofpwet9500]

Always super interesting, thx for all this content!

[@emanuellandeholm5657]

I'm from Sweden and Kiruna apatite ore was literally my first thought. I guess I thought the Kiruna apatite was formed by hydrothermal fluid action and now you're suggesting it came out of the magma like that, that it formed by density separation, underground, at the bottom of a magma chamber? Cool!

[@kennycarter5682]

i wonder what it be like to have a iron lava erupt today and have it on film? what color would it glow? how would it flow, would it be explosive?, etc

[@donaldduck830]

It would glow the same color as any other lava, but its temperature might be slightly different at the same color. The explosivity depends on the amount of water or gases enclosed within the magma, not on they type of magma, afaik.

[@stevewhalen6973]

Nice and fascinating presentation .

[@brucesmith9144]

Thanks for ironing out those details. Was the Swiss Army Knife used to give scale in the photo?

[@donaldduck830]

It was stuck to the magnetic rock,

[@rogerdudra178]

Greetings from the BIG SKY. Sounds like a volcano is making good for it's bad.

[@anatexis_the_first]

As a geologist, I found this video very interesting. I didn't know that this can happen! Thanks for the video.

[@billmiller4972]

Everytime something new! Awesome!

[@stephenstone5700]

Very interesting report!

[@swainscheps]

“Completely Highly Metallic” GH’s way with words is the best thing about this channel… That and the fact that he has the perfect touch for diving into technical facts and having a 6th sense for when he’s about to go too deep into the weeds. PS iirc carbonitite is perfect for preserving rebel warriors…provided they survive the freezing process.

[@epiendless1128]

Learning all the time. 🤘

[@lemmeloveyou5410]

Missouri has KIOA as well! Near Bourbon and Pea Ridge. The largest conventional dynamite blast in Missouri was dome it the underground Iron mine at Pea Ridge. They closed in the early 2000's but are trying to get the tailings from it now since the apatite contains REEs. There are more in the area that haven't been mined and are currently being assessed for their potential at MST.

[@augustolobo2280]

This was really cool

[@stevewhalen6973]

Thanks!

[@paulw3182]

Cool Video - Ty

[@timberry4709]

In 1965 there was a movie called "Crack in the World" in which scientists drill through the Earth's crust (using a nuclear weapon to breach an extremely hard final layer) to reach the mantle to bring up "mineral rich" magma. Totally silly movie.

[@mari3489]

They are drilling,race to be first.

[@dianevanderflier5444]

​@@mari3489 🤦 nothing can go wrong 🤦🤦🤦

[@irenafarm]

That’s pretty funny. We’ve learned so much more about the asthenosphere since then. In reality, drilling a hole to the mantle is not only impossible, it would accomplish nothing. The mantle isn’t like…soda under pressure. It wouldn’t emerge from the hole unless it was a convectively active spot. And the material is so dense we wouldn’t have any way to lift it to the surface. The earth is very weird. 😂

[@mari3489]

@@irenafarm China Russia, France & USA are digging in the Pacific and Indian oceans to reach the core, they have been at it for over 40 year now.

[@user-gz8st9fe8p]

America had a Moho drilling project that failed because President Johnson step in to assign it to a Texas company not qualified for the project.

[@sandragee2864]

Fascinating.

[@TheSpaceEnthusiast-vl6wx]

Thanks as always! This volcano is quite fascinating. As alluded to in the video, I wonder if there are similar ones, just eroded or buried.

[@dianevanderflier5444]

I was just thinking about that and the Bermuda Triangle

[@garrettmillsap]

Wow I'm in shock! So cool!

[@thespecman7]

Woah, thats heavy

[@mskiptr]

I'm not usually into geology but this was really interesting! Btw, CC BY 4.0 doesn't require using the same license. That's what the -SA variant is for after all.

that's rocks as hard as metal!

[@righteothenable]

Wow, I had never heard of iron lava. That is so cool.

[@allenbatts7971]

So cool

[@TheeSlickShady]

Liked and subbed❤

[@paulbasaur]

fascinating

[@philliplamoureux9489]

Very cool!

[@markalton2809]

How very interesting.

[@chimknee]

Thanks.

[@zoetice433]

Super cool deposits

[@planescaped]

If the Earth was remotely as geologically active now as it was even in other recent past, we'd be screwed as a species. The timing of us coming around was perfect.

[@apismellifera1000]

Very interesting

[@LuisAldamiz]

Very interesting, TY. I wonder if the concentration of such occurrences in what used to be a connected part of Gondwana (South Cone and South Africa) has some deep geological implications. Also notice the major deep heterogeneity in Earth's mantle (which some believe is a remnant of the Theia impact) sits just underneath... or rather under where South America and Africa used to be when united (now it's rather under Africa and the South Atlantic), I do wonder if it is somehow related.

[@matusknives]

Very interesting. But what was the original source of the iron oxides? Was it of older, sedimentary origing?

[@maximilianrpm2927]

THAT'S BRUTAL!

[@OldBillOverHill]

The interesting Molybdenum enriched porphyry in the Colorado mineral belt is similar. I have a large piece of Molybdenite recovered from Henderson mine by my brother. Larger than those displayed at the Smithsonian in DC.

[@creforce]

WAIT HOLD ON A SEC... your saying Kiruna is a vulcano? was a vulcano? am swede and really interested in geology but WHAT!?

[@alexdrockhound9497]

All those little roads and square pads are probably for core drilling to explore it for possible mining.

[@Dragrath1]

Interesting I had heard of iron lavas but only in the context of remnant cores of shattered differentiated worlds this seems similar albeit in a more localized manner. There was also a video at a magma lab which showed the viscosity of this stuff is crazy low compared to silica rich magmas but I had no idea we actually had extrusive analogs on Earth.

[@joelmckinney16]

Wow!

[@AtarahDerek]

"Oh, look at that, El Laco's erupting again." "There are tons of active volcanoes around here. How do you know it's El Laco?" "Because the wind's blowing from the east, yet that ash cloud is drifting toward magnetic north."

[@bandcookie88]

Neat!

[@headsupfiction8582]

Make you wonder if most of those meteorites they’ve found were actually this.

[@StuffandThings_]

IIRC some South American volcanoes also erupt molten sulfur, so I guess that could be considered yet another unique "lava" composition

[@GRH230377]

I have a rock from the Minnesota Iron Range the has a layer of irom that has surface ripping flow structures.

[@user-gz8st9fe8p]

Very cool, first time I've heard of this.

[@leofisher407]

yeah, iirc the Minnesotan Iron Ranges were formed from iron rich sands being deposited on the seafloor.

[@jamesvanwyk1378]

There are large volcanic magnatite deposits deep under Ringwood, New Jersey, USA; also beautiful colored quartzite.

[@RagingDong]

Mother nature, truly provides 🙏

[@andrew1717xx]

I wonder what could be found amongst those fields. 🤔

[@hashkangaroo]

It would be interesting to see if the iron that cooled inside the walls of the caldera could be extracted, and how much there is compared to what came up to the surface.

[@ELCADAROSA]

Any chance that the iron originally came from a meteor impact prior to the development of the volcano? ("prior to" being millions, if not billions, of years prior.)

[@NathanaelNewton]

I take advantage of iron volcanoes in oxygen not included all the time, my favorite though are the gold ones

[@irenafarm]

The OG heavy metal.🎸

[@wtywatoad]

Makes you wonder if there are other metals in these flows that are viable to mine?

[@connorferguson2269]

Wow, wish we had more lava like that.

[@cameronneveu7277]

What is the likely hood of other types of metal volcanos/eruptions? I remember in the movie Journey 2: the Mysterious Island It featured a Volcano that erupted gold. I there any chance that something like that could exist? (My base guess is that because of how dense it is it would be very unlikely)

[@carltuckerson7718]

Lot of phosphate and calcium also. That’s interesting.

[@jakeaurod]

I wonder if that could explain the high heat flow, gravitational anomaly, and magnetic anomalies near me in northern Illinois along an ancient suture between microplates.

[@KijuanLindsey]

Magnetic anomalies in northern illinois. Tell me more. What have you experienced?

[@jakeaurod]

@@KijuanLindsey I'm referring to USGS magnetic anomaly maps.

[@nian60]

Kiruna is pronounced kee-runa. 🙂 Thanks for the video. 😊

[@stephenmitchell-we8wi]

When a gold lava arrives, hit me up

[@manyhammers5944]

Erebus spews gold.

[@andymat7359]

If you melted it, would it retain its magnetism when cooled?

[@TheeSlickShady]

I want this channel to have 5 million subs asap please 🏆❤️

[@TheAverageNooob]

That's so cool annndddddd mined

[@dudmic]

I keep wondering what's in some extinct magma chambers, other than usual crystalline dense rocks? You can find plenty of magma chambers around the world, however just drilling to sample is quite costly even for shallower ones.

[@ragnapodewski4694]

Even on lavas of the great Rift valley, compassses are useless for the mass of Iron.

[@thejdmguru621]

I assume you were talking about Salpeterkop when you ment South Africa, Last erupted 70 mya?

[@GamingCeo420]

Time to get a giant magnet to extract this

[@GroovyVideo2]

I’m pretty sure there is iron lava west of Parker Az

[@tcp3059]

While this was clearly an effusive eruption, one is curious as to the physical properties of the flow. Was it a fluid, runny magma like basalt, or something ridiculously sticky like dacite/rhyolite?

[@TitanTvmanShouldRuinMIBU]

Thus gut

[@thinkingbill1304]

These numbers sound "big" but to what scale in everyday life? That is to say, how many New York sky scrapers worth? How many PanaMax ships worth? It would be interesting trivia to have that gauge. Many thanks!

[@OGParzoval]

Would be interesting to mine the caldera rim down to the magma chamber assuming it's extinct, sufficiently cooled, and stable.

[@adamthethird4753]

My ONI senses are tingling.

[@tomolson1320]

Let's get Plutonic!

[@respectbossmon]

Iron-rich lava is fine. But, gold-rich lava would be bettah. ;p

[@simix6915]

Imagine flying a giant floating magnet over it

[@kludgedude]

I talk like this too.

[@robertotamesis1783]

Trapped carbon kimberlite graphite has diamonds compounds. I think know where to find rough diamonds .

[@pauljs75]

Aspects of volcanism being tied to the forge and smithing in the lore of some cultures may not have been too far off the mark.

[@ericfeder4423]

does that look more like a meteor impact crater than a volcanic caldera to anyone else? could the iron be from an iron rich meteor melting in a caldera form from its impact in a volcanic region?

[@Gunny672]

Heavy metal flows through its vains🤘