Magma spends most of its existence as sludgy mush
Crystals open window into volcanic depths
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/gb_Mt-Hood_free.jpg?fit=860%2C460&ssl=1)
UNDER THE VOLCANO Mount Hood looms over Oregon’s White River Valley. A study of magma that poured into this valley around 220 years ago shows that the magma spent most of its long existence under the mountain in a cold, semisolid state.
Erik Klemetti