Magma expanse under Yellowstone supervolcano more vast than thought

cnn.com ^ | 4/24/2015 | Ben Brumfield

[rktman]

As tourists stroll between Yellowstone's 300 active geysers, taking selfies in front of thousands of bubbling, boiling mud pots and hissing steam vents, they are treading on one of the planet's greatest time bombs.

The park is a supervolcano so enormous, it has puzzled geophysicists for decades, but now a research group, using seismic technology to scan its depths, have made a bombshell discovery.

Yellowstone's magma reserves are many magnitudes greater than previously thought, say scientists from the University of Utah.

Underneath the national park's attractions and walking paths is enough hot rock to fill the Grand Canyon nearly 14 times over. Most of it is in a newly discovered magma reservoir, which the scientists featured in a study published on Thursday in the journal Science.

[rktman]

What the heck? Dr. Evil knew about this long time ago. I wasn't too concerned before about Yellerstone but now....... Anyway, we live west of there so it'll take a while for the prevailing winds to circle back to us. Anybody consider doing a little relief drilling in the area? Maybe algore needs to weigh in. I'm sure he'd be able to tie it to climate "wiggles" somehow.

[rey]

Is it climate change or drilling that’s causing it?

[Red Badger]

Good movie............................

[sparklite2]

It is vaster than a speeding bullet.
Anything else is only half-vast.

[clintonh8r]

Frikkin’ frackers!

[Red Badger]

Good movie.........................

[mad_as_he$$]

Fracking!!!

[HiTech RedNeck]

If she blows she could ash out pretty much the whole USA.

[bigbob]

When she blows, gonna be some climate change fer sure

[hosepipe]

EXCELLENT...........

[musicman]

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[jonno]

I thought there was some recent movie (”The day before yesterday”, “the week after last month” - or something) that explored this phenomenon...

[rktman]

Lucky thing that the last time she went was before “records” were kept so no harm no foul. Just like climate _______(fill in the blank for the week)only takes into consideration recorded stuff. You know like past glaciation periods and subsequent warming and sea level rise don’t count. Have these asshats ever been up in the mountains and found sea fossils?

[dfwgator]

[rktman]

LOL! Yeah and some guy in his “Scout” outrunning a super heated pyroclastic cloud racing towards him. “Just take a left up ahead Jim. That’ll slow the cloud down.”

[rey]

We need to be proactive about this, just like climate change. I say open up the thing and let’s fill the Grand Canyon 14 times over.

[rktman]

Yup. “Scott, shush, zip it, quiet, eh....”

[rey]

I also like the magma magnitude study. Say that fast three time.

[RayChuang88]

If the supervolcano at Yellowstone--or Toba on the island of Sumatra--goes off again, the amount of volcanic ash spewed into the air would be measured in the hundreds of cubic kilometers of ash. That is enough to essentially blot out the Sun for a year or more with disastrous effects for agriculture worldwide.

[rktman]

Sorry, no can do. It’s a world “heritage” site and thus protected by the mighty u.n. Kinda like the everglades. No concern for water rise there since it too bears the badge of world “heritage” site. Probably some signs posted someplace.