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Volcanic rocks form when lava erupts or flows out of the Earth onto its surface. Lava is the liquid that forms if you heat rocks to high enough temperatures that it melts and then is released onto the Earth's surface. Of course, the rocks don't melt above the Earth's surface. They melt deep below the surface where temperatures are much higher. And before the lava erupts above the Earth's surface, it's actually called magma. Now volcanic rocks are the result of lava erupting and cooling so that it crystallizes. That is, minerals freeze out or crystallize out of the melt due to the change in temperature. Now of course, it's possible for magma to cool and crystallize before it erupts as lava from a volcano to form a volcanic rock. Both rocks that erupt from volcanic eruptions and rocks that form from the crystallization of magma beneath Earth's surface are called igneous rocks. Volcanic rocks are extrusive igneous rocks and rocks that formed under Earth's surface are intrusive igneous rocks.