True scoria is lava that has cooled slowly in the air, and formed rough rocks As used in western North Dakota and eastern Montana, though, the term refers to slow-burned, exposed coal beds that have turned red or pink
Refers to the angular pebble-sized frothy fragments that have solidified while flying through the air Lapilli (qv) is a more general term for pebble to granule sized ejecta Finer material is referred to as ash, and coarser fragments as bombs or blocks Tuff (qv) is the name for consolidated ash
Rough vesicular cindery lava, common in volcanic regions and generally forms over basaltic lava flows It is somewhat denser and tougher than pumice, and the gas bubbles which give it its spongy or frothy appearance are generally larger and more widely spaced that those in pumice
Heavy, dark, glassy igneous rock that contains many bubblelike cavities. Foamlike scoria, in which the bubbles are very thin shells of solidified basaltic magma, occurs as a product of explosive eruptions (as on Hawaii) and as frothy crusts on some lavas. Other scoria, sometimes called volcanic cinder, resembles clinkers, or cinders from a coal furnace
Scoria forms when blobs of gas-charged lava are thrown into the air during an eruption and cool in flight, falling as dark volcanic rockcontaining cavities created by trapped gas bubbles