Reno Reporter

If you have ever contemplated how to cook food on a volcano, a University of Nevada, Reno associate professor would be your point of contact.

Geochemist Philipp Ruprecht, with the Department of Geological Sciences and Engineering, spent the past six years conducting research at the Chilean volcano Puyehue Cordón Caulle, according to a news release issued by the university.

Volcanoes are typically either explosive or effusive, however, Puyehue Cordón Caulle has characteristics of both and Ruprecht wanted to study how the volcano transitioned from explosive to effusive.

“This was our driver to go (to) Puyehue Cordón Caulle. In the past, people have always argued that if new magma comes in, it will disrupt the system, creating catastrophic bubble formation and explosion,” said Ruprecht in the release. “We had this theory that if an intrusion of new magma was so effective that it reheats the entire magma body, it may slow the explosiveness down.”

When the Puyehue Cordón Caulle volcano last erupted in 2011, ash could be found in Buenos Aires — almost 900 kilometers away. Ruprecht’ crew found new magma in the lava fields surrounding it, a sign that newer magma that has been mixed with older lava flow within the Earth’s crust. This could account for the effusive lava flow to the eruption in the middle for Puyehue Cordón Caulle.

As far as the best technique to cook chicken, digging a hole a foot down near the earth of the volcano will provide enough heat to thoroughly cook a chicken.