Iceland Pseudocraters

A pseudocrater is an interesting landform that looks like a volcanic crater. Unlike an actual volcanic crater a pseudocrater is not a vent from which lava has erupted. These craters are formed when lava travels across a wet surface. When this happens steam escapes by exploding through the hot lava. The Iceland Pseudocraters are the best example of this phenomena on earth. Pseudocraters have also been found on mars. 

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These photographs were taken by Chris Zielecki during a flight tour of Lake Mývatn, Iceland. As you can see there are a lot of pseudocraters. They form some of the islands that are on the lake and are a dominant feature of the landscape.

 viavia ^via Meredith Lewis 2013 ^via Johannes martin 2010 This is a great shot that makes it easy to visualize the time when the pseudocrater was formed. You can see how the ground is risen where the steam rose from underneath. Almost like a giant bubble that eventually burst through the lava.

 via This is an image of the pseudocraters on Mars.

 Source: http://welldonestuff.com/