thumb|View of a bay in [[Lake Toba, on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia, which is the largest volcanic lake in the world]]

A volcanogenic lake is a lake formed as a result of volcanic activity. They are generally a body of water inside an inactive volcanic crater (crater lakes) but can also be large volumes of molten lava within an active volcanic crater (lava lakes) and waterbodies constrained by lava flows, pyroclastic flows or lahars in valley systems. The term volcanic lake is also used to describe volcanogenic lakes, although it is more commonly assigned to those inside volcanic craters.

  • Soda Lakes, Nevada, United States

Lava lakes

thumb|right|Lava lake at [[Mount Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo]]

These are some examples of rare lava lakes where molten lava in a volcano maintains relative equilibrium, neither rising to overflowing nor sinking to drain away.

  • Mount Erebus, Ross Island, Antarctica
  • Erta Ale, Afar Region, Ethiopia
  • Mount Nyiragongo, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Lava-dammed lakes

thumb|right|[[Garibaldi Lake in British Columbia, Canada, is impounded by lava flows comprising The Barrier]]

  • Lake Balık, Ağrı Province, Turkey
  • Lake Disappear, North Island, New Zealand
  • Garibaldi Lake, British Columbia, Canada
  • Lake Güija, Guatemala/El Salvador

References

Further reading

  • (entire volume about crater lakes)
  • (entire issue about chemistry of crater lakes)
  • IAVCEI Commission of Volcanic Lakes
  • IAVCEI Commission of Volcanic Lakes: Some fundamentals about Crater Lakes
  • The Science of Volcanic Lakes
  • Volcanic Lakes of the World
  • USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory: Water on volcanoes: heavy rain and crater lakes
  • USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory: Volcanic Lakes
  • The Science of Volcanic Lakes, Greg Pasternack, U. California Davis
  • Crater Lake National Park documentation in Building Oregon: Architecture of Oregon & the Pacific Northwest archive
  • World Volcanic Lakes Map