Article: "Right" is wrong.(Letter to the editor)

In my former incarnation as an igneous petrologist, I studied extremely explosive volcanoes and must point out that John White didn't "Get It Right" in the September/October issue. His column indicates that basalts melt at lower temperatures than more siliceous rocks such as andesite or rhyolite, but just the opposite is true: basalts melt/erupt at 1,200-1,500[degrees]C and rhyolites at 400-500[degrees] below that.

Perhaps the most efficient way to explain volcanic eruptive behavior is through viscosity, which is the primary factor in determining whether an eruption will be explosive or not. Magmatic viscosity is a function of temperature, mineralogy/composition, ...

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