As in the main four elements, not the periodic table kind. I figure said spell would have no effect on elementals (other than maybe the two element kinds like lava), but would be really deadly to most life and leave people killed by it as piles of minerals with steam rising up.
Disintegrate does more or less this. Dis - integrate. It's far from clear what sort of component particles it separates the target into, though classical 4 elements would be at most a stylized spell variant.
Disintegrate does more or less this. Dis - integrate.
That's exactly what I was going to say as well.
The word "disintegrate" means exactly what you said. In practice it's just a boat-load of damage with an attack roll and a save attached. Only if they actually die from it do you see the "disintegrate" effects.
There was that 3rd or 3.5 spell that pulled all the water from a target and then animated it as an elemental. That's somewhat close.