Volcanic Plateau

A volcanic plateau is a plateau produced by volcanic activity, and geologists recognize two main kinds distinguished by how they form. A lava plateau builds up from repeated, relatively quiet eruptions of highly fluid basaltic lava from multiple vents or long fissures, with successive sheet like lava flows stacking into thick layers that can also carry features such as lava fields, cinder cones and shield volcanoes. A pyroclastic plateau, also called an ignimbrite plateau, instead forms from massive pyroclastic flows, resting on a foundation of compressed volcanic debris such as agglomerate, tephra and ash welded into tuff. Both kinds occur widely, from the large basaltic shield of Level Mountain in British Columbia to the pyroclastic Shirasu Daichi plateau in southern Japan and the North Island Volcanic Plateau in New Zealand.