[Rockhounds] 'Don't toast marshmallows on Hawaii volcano'

[Paul]

In 'Don't toast marshmallows on Hawaii volcano'
Alan Silverstein wrote:

“But I can attest that it's OK to warm an (opened)
can of beans above a hot crack in a fresh lava flow...”

When I was a student at Louisiana State University,
the volcanology class that I was in took a two
week long trip to Central America to tour active and
dormant volcanoes. One hike was to Pacaya Volcano
in Guatemala, which at the time was erupting lava.
Where lava was erupting out of the vent, it was
incandescent and impossible to approach anywhere
close to it due to its radiant heat.

Then, we hiked down to the front of the active lava
flow, which was crusted over with clinker and rubble.
There we ate a leisurely lunch about 40 feet in front
of the very, very slowly moving front. Every few
minutes or so the surface clinker would break loose
and roll down its steep front exposing incandescent
lava in deep cracks. When that happened, one of the
graduate students, who had brought along very greasy
local sausage for lunch, threw a link of it into the
crack. The sausage link exploded like a hand grenade.
A second link that he threw in a crack also produced
a satisfying bang and ball of flame.

After lunch, I remember a surreal discussion about
whether to pack our garbage out or let be covered
by the lava flow, which had moved about 10 feet
while we had lunch. To me, the scariest part of this
part of the trip was the 90-foot cliff that we climbed
after lunch as a “short cut” back to the tourist path
that we had taken to the summit. The path actually
was crowded with tourists and local people hiking
up to the vent to marvel at lava poring out of the
volcano.

Earlier in the trip, we climbed a mountain adjacent
to Santa María Volcano and watched it erupt while
a light rain of volcanic ash rained down upon us.
The original plan was to climb Santa María Volcano,
but it was obvious that it was not wise path of action
as it was throwing out car-size rocks that day.

Yours,

Paul H.