Tuya

A tuya is a special kind of volcano that looks like a flat-topped hill. It forms when lava bursts out from under a thick glacier or ice sheet. The lava cools very fast when it touches the ice, so it doesn’t spread out far. Instead, it piles up and creates a steep-sided hill.

If the eruption lasts long enough, the heat from the lava can melt the ice above it. Sometimes, the lava breaks through the top of the ice and flows out normally, creating a flat cap on the hill. These unique volcanoes are rare in the world and are only found in places that had both glaciers and active volcanoes at the same time.

Scientists study tuyas to learn about how big and thick glaciers used to be in the past. By looking at the lava flows on top of these hills, they can figure out when the ice was there and how much of it covered the land.

Formation

Tuyas are special kinds of volcanoes that form when lava erupts under thick glaciers or ice sheets. They have flat tops and steep sides because the lava cools very quickly when it touches the ice. This makes the lava pile up and form a hill. Tuyas are rare and can be found in places like Iceland, British Columbia, the Santiam Pass region in Oregon, the Tyva Republic in eastern Russia, the Antarctic Peninsula, and under the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. In Iceland, they are sometimes called table mountains because of their flat tops.

Etymology

The word "tuya" comes from the name of Tuya Butte, a flat-topped volcano near the Tuya River and Tuya Range in northern British Columbia, Canada. In 1947, a Canadian geologist named Bill Mathews wrote about these volcanoes and used the name "tuya". Tuya Butte was one of the first of these volcanoes studied, and the name is now used by scientists worldwide. A park called Tuya Mountains Provincial Park protects the area near Tuya Lake and the Jennings River.

Examples

Tuya volcanoes are special kinds of mountains. They form when hot lava flows out under thick ice or glaciers. The lava cools quickly when it touches the ice. This causes the lava to pile up and create a steep, flat-topped hill. These volcanoes are rare. You can only find them in places that had both ice sheets and active volcanoes at the same time.