Magma Chamber

A magma chamber is a large underground pool of liquid rock found beneath the surface of the Earth. The molten rock in such a chamber is under great pressure, and given enough time, that pressure can gradually fracture the rock around it creating outlets for the magma. If it finds a way to the surface, then the result will be a volcanic eruption; consequently many volcanoes are situated over magma chambers. Magma chambers are hard to detect, and most of the known ones are therefore close to the surface of the Earth, commonly between 1 km and 10 km under the surface. In geological terms this is extremely close to the surface, although in human terms it is considerably deep underground.

Read more about Magma Chamber:  Dynamics of Magma Chambers

Famous quotes containing the word chamber:

    But it is the same thing we are all seeing,
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    Go get it boy, says the man holding the stick.
    Eat, says the hunger, and we plunge blindly in again,
    Into the chamber behind the thought.
    John Ashbery (b. 1927)