Question

Predict which landforms are made from magma and which landforms are made from lava. Use evidence from the pictures to explain your prediction.

All four landforms: Belknap, Arenal, El Capitan, and Ship Rock

Answer 1

Short definition to use when looking at the pictures:
- Magma (intrusive) landforms are made when molten rock cools and solidifies underground. They tend to be massive, coarse‑grained rocks (granite, etc.), steep monoliths, plugs or dikes exposed by erosion.
- Lava (extrusive) landforms are built when molten rock erupts onto the surface. They show flow layers, volcanic cones/craters, smoother or blocky surface flows, and usually finer‑grained rock.

Predictions and evidence from the photos:

- Belknap — made from lava.
- Evidence: photo shows a volcanic cone/field with obvious flow surfaces and broad slopes typical of basaltic lava flows (not a single massive exposed intrusion). Belknap Crater is a volcanic cone/shield produced by erupted lava.

- Arenal — made from lava.
- Evidence: classic conical volcano with a summit crater and layered slopes that look like accumulated erupted material and lava flows. Arenal is an active stratovolcano whose shape and surface flows indicate extrusive lava emplacement.

- El Capitan — made from magma (intrusive).
- Evidence: photo shows a huge, light‑colored, massive cliff of coarse rock with large jointing and a blocky appearance (granite). That texture and the monolithic wall indicate slow cooling underground (pluton) rather than surface lava flows.

- Ship Rock — made from magma (intrusive).
- Evidence: photo shows a jagged spire/vent rising from eroded plain with radiating dikes. This is a volcanic neck/plug — the hardened magma that filled the conduit and was left standing after surrounding rock eroded away.

If you want, I can mark the same features on the pictures (flow layers, jointing, crater, dikes) to make the evidence clearer.