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With such a high silica content, these magmas are extremely viscous, ranging from 10⁸ cP (10⁵ Pa·s) for hot rhyolite magma at 1200 C to 10¹¹ cP (10⁸ Pa·s) for cool rhyolite magma at 800 C. For comparison, water has a viscosity of about 1 cP (0.001 Pa·s). Because of this very high viscosity, felsic lavas usually erupt explosively to produce pyroclastic (fragmental) deposits. However, rhyolite lavas occasionally erupt effusively

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