Re: Lava and dinosaurs

[Betty Cunningham <bettyc@flyinggoat.com>]

trying to recall coolest fluid lava temps, and I think it STILL makes
water boil away on contact- the stuff is very very hot -the cooling
stuff has a crust up to a meter thick of rapidly crystalizing 'stuff'
that would push against stuff by the weight of the mass behind it but to
envelope anything really irregularily shaped my guess is the crust would
break and the hot stuff would engulf the organic material rather
rapidly.  

Sort of the consistency of asphalt.

Of course if you caught and cooled the lava JUST as it was engulfing the
skull and before the crust was broken I suppose it would form around the
skull, but I wouldn't bet the farm against those specific conditions
happening.....

-Betty

David Krentz wrote:
> 
>   Thankd you all  for your answers.  I'll spill the beans on what prompted 
> such
> a question (dinosaur in lava..what happens to it).  I'm working on a sculpture
> and it might be a nice touch to incorperate a triceratops head half sticking
> out of some cooled lava on the base.  Would the lava even leave any remenants
> of the of the non- buried portion of the skull, especially those robust horns?
>   By the way, It would  be great to find a Pompeii like graveyard of dinosaurs
> as many of you suggested.  It would be fantastic to fill in the "moulds"
> created by ash and see what kind of castings come out!
> David Krentz

-- 
Flying Goat Graphics
http://www.flyinggoat.com
(Society of Vertebrate Paleontology member)
-------------------------------------------<,D,><