A 'lava flow' is not necessarily a single entity. The term flow field describes the tangle of flows from a single eruptive episode, as seen here beneath the steep summit of 3700 m high El Teide volcano. A flow that cools rapidly relative to its flow rate will sprout many offshoots. As a result, long durations of flow at slow effusion rates generate flow fields that have large width to length ratios, composed of many branches; at higher flow rates, flows move rapidly from their sources to form relatively long, simple flows, such as that extending to the lower right corner of the photo. These flows also exhibit well developed levées, and have coarse aa surface textures. (Fig.7.7).

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