Video: Lava versus ice and snow
Digital Reporter
Wednesday, December 24, 2014, 2:56 PM - Standing beside an active lava flow can't have been the most serene experiment for those scientists in the video above.
Still, it must have been an incredible assignment as they studied the way the molten rock from Russia's Tolbachik volcano interacted with the icy surroundings of the Kamchatka Peninsula. The New Scientists reports they actually dug observation pits in front of the advancing lava flows as part of their research.
During their mission to the volcano during its 2012-2013 eruption, they found that different kinds of lava actually do different things to the ice and snow in that environment.
"Our observations show that lava–snow heat transfer is slow, and that styles of lava propagation control snowpack responses," they write in Nature Communications.
The 'A'a variety of lava moves like a caterpillar tread across the landscape, with relatively little interaction.
In contrast, the pahoehoe kind of spreads beneath snowbanks, melting them from below and resulting in the bursts of steam as the meltwater interacts with the lava. It also pushes the snow up into 'domes', which fracture to leave behind ice chunks.
By looking out for telltale signs of the latter kind of lava in historic lava, scientists can glean clues about the climate of Earth's distant past.
BONUS VIDEO: What happens to a brave soul who actually STEPS on lava.
