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Flattened, elongate, pumice clasts that are found in many welded ignimbrites. The pumice clasts, which are in a hot, plastic state when deposited from the pyroclastic flow, are compressed and flattened by the weight of the overlying ignimbrite body, producing elongated glassy clasts with ragged, flame-like ends (fiamme is the Italian word for ‘flame’). Many fiamme clasts continue to vesiculate after formation, leading to the development of spherical vesicles within them.
From: fiamme in A Dictionary of Earth Sciences »
Subjects: Earth Sciences and Geography.
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