• Question: what temperature is magma?

    Asked by anon-199058 to Srinath, Natasha, Nana, Luisa, Gautam, Alex on 7 Mar 2019.
    • Photo: Marialuisa Crosatti

      Marialuisa Crosatti answered on 7 Mar 2019:

      I would say very hot but I do not know.

    • Photo: Natasha Dowey

      Natasha Dowey answered on 7 Mar 2019:

      This is an interesting one. So, magma is molten rock. To melt, a solid needs to reach its melting temperature. Therefore the temperature of a magma is controlled by its melting temperature.
      But different types of magma contain different chemical elements- some may contain more iron and magnesium for example, while others may contain more silica. These elements all have different melting temperatures, which means that magmas of different of chemistry are erupted at different temperatures. Hawaiian lavas are very rich in iron and magnesium, and erupt at very high temperatures- more than 1000 degrees celcius! However, some magmas erupt at much lower (but still very hot!) temperatures of 500-700 degrees celcius.

    • Photo: Alexander Allen

      Alexander Allen answered on 11 Mar 2019:

      Magma, as has already been said, is the molten rock that is under the Earth’s crust. In order to answer your question I am going to stick to the absolute definition here. Once magma emerges from the surface of the earth, it is known as lava and immediately begins cooling after it emerges (it does start out incredibly hot).

      When you first reach the magma by digging under the crust you will immediately hit temperatures of around 700 degrees and the temperature just keeps climbing. Natasha knows a lot more about this than I do!

      What I do know is that is you keep heading into the earth, temperatures keep rising and rising. When you finally reach the earth’s core, you hit roughly the same temperature as the surface of the sun. This is 6000 degrees celsius right at the centre of our own planet!

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