VOLCANOES can spew out burning molten sulphur, report geologists who saw the
phenomenon at the Vulcano volcano in Italy.
Andy Harris and Rob Wright of the University of Hawaii are the first to
record a burning flow. The sulphur-rich vapour above the molten liquid burned
with a blue flame, at times producing enough sulphur dioxide to overwhelm the
researchers’ gas masks. The flow burned out after four hours, leaving a
sulphur-free trench that resembled many others on Vulcano (Geology, vol
28, p 415).
Because the remains of burning flows haven’t been recognised in the past,
sulphur flows may be…
