First recognized after the Taal Volcano eruption of 1965 in the Philippines, where a visiting volcanologist from USGS recognized the phenomenon as comparable to base surge in nuclear explosions. Very similar to the ground-hugging blasts associated with nuclear explosions, these surges are expanding rings of turbulent mixture of fragments and gas that surge outward at the base of explosion columns. Base surges are more likely generated by the interaction of magma and water or phreatomagmatic eruptions. They develop from the interaction of magma (often basaltic) and water to form thin wedge-shaped deposits characteristic of maars.