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On page 444 in the Core Rulebook, it says that:
Lava or magma deals 2d6 points of fire damage per round of exposure, except in the case of total immersion (such as when a character falls into the crater of an active volcano), which deals 20d6 points of fire damage per round.
Would you take this to mean that a character that falls into a 3 feet deep river of floating lava would take 2d6 points of damage, but if she falls prone and becomes immersed [for instance, from taking damage from the fall into the lava) she would take 20d6 per round until she can get back on her feet?
It seems odd, btw, that you only take 2d6 point of damage from walking though waist deep lava, but that's another discussion.
Actually, given the typical density of Lava vs. the typical adventurer's body, you'd be hard pressed to get totally immersed in the first place.
This aside, these rules are a remnant from 3.x, which state 'contact X d6, immersion 10 x X d6, no in-betweens', and never made much sense to begin with.
(standing in boiling water to the chin would still be 1d6; switching to 10d6 once you get in over your head...)
If you're the dm, decide on an in between number of dice when neither 2d6 nor 20d6 seems appropriate. That's your job, and your right for taking on that job.
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The way I interpret the RAW is that "exposure" basically just means a splash of lava or perhaps quickly running through a light pour of the stuff, anything that lasts less than a second. Total immersion means any contact with lava where I can easily assume 40% to 100% of the body has gone into the lava. From all that, I play around with damage on a case-by-case basis. For instance, I'm not going to roll 20d6 for somebody's hand going in for half a round or more; I'd probably make it 4d6 for just a hand. Their whole arm might get up 15d6 and so on.
A river of lava recently made an appearance in a game I'm running and two or three characters were thrown into it by an air elemental. I wanted the lava to be a threat, but I wasn't trying to TPK the party so I decided the river would be slower moving, a little bit cooler and a little bit thicker than the prescribed 20d6 nightmare machine. Basically, it was solid enough the players could run across it to get out of the river, but I rolled damage based on how much ground they had to cover. It worked out to somewhere around 3d6 for every 10ft traveled, so sorta-kinda like running through the length of a Wall of Fire spell.
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You might find this free PDF helpful when adjudicating lava. It's OGL, but still a good read.
I am no expert in geology/lava but at something like 700-1000 degrees C ruling 2d6 for splash (or near splash) and 20d6 for immersion of even one limb seems pretty fair. I have never had to deal with a PC vs lava but if pressed or challenged as a Gm I might say it is 3d6 per limb / 8d6 for the torso & head.