Lava
There are three different types of materials may erupt from an active volcano. These materials are lava, tephra and gases. The type and amount of the material that erupts from an active volcano depends on the composition of the magma inside the volcano.Lava is magma that breaks the surface and erupts from a volcano. If the magma is very fluid, it flows rapidly down the volcano's slopes. Lava that is more sticky and less fluid moves slower. Lava flows that have a continuous, smooth, ropy, or billowy surface are called pahoehoe flows, while "aa" flows have a jagged surface composed of loose, irregularly shaped lava chunks. Once cooled, pahoehoe forms smooth rocks, while aa forms jagged rocks. The words pahoehoe and aa are Hawaiian terms that describe the texture of the lava. Lava may also be described in terms of its composition and the type of rock it forms. Basalt, andesite, dacite, and rhyolite are all different kinds of rock that form from lava.
Tephra
Tephra or pyroclastic material, is made of rock fragments formed by explosive shattering of sticky magma. Tephra refers to any airborne pyroclastic material regardless of size or shape. The best-known tephra materials include pumice, cinders, and volcanic ash. These fragments are exploded when gases build up inside a volcano and produce an explosion. The pieces of magma are shot into the air during the explosion. Ash refers to fragments smaller than 2 mm in diameter. The finest ash is called volcanic dust and is made up of particles that are less than 0.06 mm in diameter. Volcanic blocks, or bombs, are the largest fragments of tephra, more than 64 mm in diameter (baseball size). Some bombs can be the size of a small car.
Gases
Gases are primarily in the form of steam, are released from volcanoes during eruptions. All eruptions, explosive or nonexplosive, are accompanied by the release of volcanic gas. The sudden escape of high-pressure volcanic gas from magma is the driving force for eruptions. Gases come from the magma itself or from the hot magma coming into contact with water in the ground. Volcanic plumes can appear dark during an eruption because the gases are mixed with dark-colored materials such as tephra. Most volcanic gases predominantly consist of water vapor (steam), with carbon dioxide (CO2) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) being the next two most common compounds along with smaller amounts of chlorine and fluorine gases.