History Main / TheLavaCavesOfNewYork

!!How did the spelunkers miss these?[[labelnote:*]][[SurvivorshipBias They fell into the lava and died.]] Duh.[[/labelnote]]

!!How did the spelunkers miss these?[[labelnote:*]]They fell into the lava and died. Duh.[[/labelnote]]

* The climax of ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'''s second season finale is set about a kilometer under [[NoCommunitiesWereHarmed a very San Francisco-like city]]. [[DiabolusExMachina Apropos of nothing]], Terra's [[DishingOutDirt Earth powers]] ''trigger a volcanic eruption'' that fills the cavern with lava in seconds and is capable of destroying the city. [[spoiler:She suffers a SuperPowerMeltdown [[RedemptionEqualsDeath stopping it]].]]

Usually associated with caves and a CityOfAdventure but can show up in other "exotic" locales like an alien nest in deep space, or prehistoric times. This trope specifically applies to Lava or Magma, and is not limited to New York, or even caves necessarily -- for instance, it could be in TheMountainsOfIllinois.

* 200 million years ago this was RealLife. When North America tore away from Eurasia and Africa (eventually forming the Atlantic Ocean), lava oozed to the surface in the New York area (well, [[{{Joisey}} New Jersey]] to be precise), forming the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Jersey_Palisades New Jersey Palisades]].
* Though not exactly lava, a fiery inferno does exist just beneath the ground in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia,_Pennsylvania Centralia, Pennsylvania]]. The town sits right above a massive deposit of coal that was accidentally set on fire and has grown too big to put out. The ground often crumbles into the burning pits below, steam rises out from cracks, and most of the former residents fled to places where they won't get burned alive at any random time.

[[folder: Film ]]

* In ''Film/TheTimeMachine1960'', a [[WorldWarIII nuclear explosion]] causes a sudden volcanic eruption in 1966 London, causing the traveller to become trapped inside a cave made of petrified lava for hundreds of thousands of years.
* There is a Sy-Fy movie with the name of ''Film/MiamiMagma'', with drilling setting off an ancient super volcano guess where?

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* In one of the stages of the NES ''VideoGame/DoubleDragon'', you must enter a cave from the woods just outside. Only about 15 feet below you is a LavaPit. In New York.

* In ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'', the only liquid Link could encounter in a cave was Lava. There's even a lava cave on a beach, early on.

* In ''[[VideoGame/BatmanSunsoft Batman: Return of the Joker]]'' for the UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem, part of stage 3-2 involves sailing across a lava pit on a small piece of land. This stage is supposed to be some underground mine in or near Gotham City.
* In the original FDS version of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBrosTheLostLevels'', World 1-2 had pits of water (if Mario/Luigi fell into these, he will drown) both at the very beginning and in the Warp Zone to World 4. However, in the SNES remake, the pit of water at the beginning is emptied out, and the pits of water in World 4's warp area are replaced with pits of lava.
* The Demon Ruins and Lost Izalith in ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' do this. Mind you, it is heavily hinted that all the lava comes from the flame of chaos.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'', due to the randomly-generated nature of the game, it's fully possible to encounter an NPC town with a cavern full of lava just underneath or an open lava lake right next to it.

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* Featured into several episodes of ''WesternAnimation/{{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|1987}}'', particularly with the Technodrome. May have been prevalent in Dimension X as well.

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* There is a Sy-Fy movie with the name of Miami Magma, with drilling setting off an ancient super volcano guess where?

* There is a Sy-Fy movie with the name of ''Film/Miami Magma", with drilling setting off an ancient super volcano guess where?

* And ''Film/{{Volcano}}''...set in Los Angeles.

* A rather large mass of magma was recently detected beneath New England. It may only be about 50 million years before everyone there is screwed.

* Though not exactly lava, a fiery inferno does exist just beneath the ground in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia,_Pennsylvania Centralia, Pennsylvania]]. The town sits right below a massive deposit of coal that was accidentally set on fire and has grown too big to put out. The ground often crumbles into the burning pits below, steam rises out from cracks, and most of the former residents fled to places where they won't get burned alive at any random time.

* ''Series/MacGyver1985'': "Good Knight, [=MacGyver=]" features a LiteralCliffhanger where Mac and Merlin end up dangling above a LavaPit in a cave in Scotland (a region not exactly famous for its volcanic activity).