Solved cryptogram
Molten rock is called magma while it is underground and lava once it has reached the surface.
Earth Science Facts, sourced to U.S. Geological Survey.
What it means
It is the same material, and the word changes at the moment it emerges. The distinction is useful because the two behave differently: magma is under pressure and holds dissolved gases, and it is the escape of those gases as the pressure drops that drives an explosive eruption. Lava that has already degassed tends to flow rather than blast.
The claim comes from U.S. Geological Survey, and the page it comes from was read on 2026-08-27 to confirm it still says this.
This is not the kind of claim that goes out of date, which is why it was set as a puzzle rather than a fact with a shelf life.
Solve it yourself
This fact is a cryptogram here: 76 letters over 19 different ones, graded medium.
- SourceU.S. Geological Survey
- CollectionEarth Science Facts
- Difficultymedium
- Length76 letters, 19 of them different
Nearby in the collection
The facts either side of this one.
- NOAAmedium, 75 letters
- U.S. Geological Surveymedium, 71 letters
- U.S. Geological Surveymedium, 74 letters
- U.S. Geological Surveymedium, 78 letters
About as hard as this one
Scored closest to it by the model behind our guide to solving cryptograms.
- NASAmedium, 82 letters
- Royal Society of Chemistrymedium, 75 letters
- U.S. Geological Surveymedium, 79 letters
- NASAmedium, 75 letters