LOS ANGELES, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The United States Geological Survey (USGS) warned against toasting marshmallows over any volcano vent after a tweeter user joked with the agency if it were safe to do so.
USGS Volcanoes, the official Twitter account of the USGS delivering official volcano updates and info, replied Monday evening to a question asked by a user with the name Jay Furr, who tweeted, "Is it safe to roast marshmallows over volcanic vents? Assuming you had a long enough stick, that is? Or would the resulting marshmallows be poisonous?"
USGS said this idea is extremely unsafe, as the marshmallows toasted would not taste good if the vents were emitting hydrogen sulfide or sulfur dioxide.
"Erm...we're going to have to say no, that's not safe. (Please don't try!) If the vent is emitting a lot of SO2 or H2S, they would taste BAD. And if you add sulfuric acid (in vog, for example) to sugar, you get a pretty spectacular reaction," USGS said.
USGS's Twitter page is full of information about Kilauea Volcano in Hawaill which started erupting over three weeks ago and has claimed 112 structures by Tuesday and caused the evacuation of thousands of people.
USGS monitors volcanoes throughout U.S. territory and has established methods for measuring the relative threats posed at each site.
