[hugi]

When I got back from the hike I heard on the radio that this location was, ahem, not recommended. It was closed off yesterday and a short while later the crater walls collapsed in that direction.

https://youtu.be/eeAf1kZ7_ZE

But there were a few of us at that spot at the time so at least I wouldn't have died alone :).

[ragebol]

A bit on the macabre side (but your comments makes me believe you don't mind too much perhaps): what would happen if you'd fall or otherwise get trapped in lava? Gollum melted I think but that seems unlikely (it's a movie after all). Left for future archeologists like in Pompeii?

Please don't test on purpose or accident this btw.

[Tuna-Fish]

The lava is substantially denser than you, so you'd probably float on top and bake until you are dry and then burn.

The victims at Pompeii got buried in pyroclastic ash, not lava.

[ragebol]

Ah, of course. Should have known. Still terrible.

[DyslexicAtheist]

it's 1200°C so you burn already before your body even hits the lava. During the Pompeji eruption people got killed by the hot ash (arriving first and travels further) which cooked them alive:

> The individuals in the boat houses died relatively quickly: The volcanic ash blocked the entrance to each structure, and the temperature of the air within probably rose to about 400°C—even hotter than a wood-fired oven. -- https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/01/studies-reveal-grues...

[the8472]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq7DDk8eLs8

[elihu]

I don't think much would be left of a person, but in central Oregon near Bend there's a park called the Lava Cast Forest, which is what it sounds like. About seven thousand years ago or so, there were some lava flows that engulfed live trees. The lava solidified, and what was left of the trees decomposed.

Now, what's left is a bunch of hollow tubes that are castings of the trees. You can still see the texture of the bark.

I assume this sort of thing exists in other lava flows around the world.

[btach]

A trail around Mt St Helens (Trail of Two Forests, https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/trail-of-two-forests) has that kind of thing. There is a short tunnel you can crawl through - two trees were laying 90 degrees to each other overlapping when covered with lava. The entrance reminded me of a scene of a typical campy B horror movie (No! Don't go in that cave! The Monster is in there!) I wish I thought to scream to my wife when I crawled in (pretending the Monster got me) -- only thought of it later :-).