The timebomb under Yellowstone: Experts warn of 90,000 immediate deaths and a 'nuclear winter'

dailymail.co.uk ^ | August 7, 2015 | Ellie Zolfagharifard

[John W]

A supervolcano in the heart of America's northwest has the potential to blanket the US in a 'nuclear winter'.

If it were to erupt, the Yellowstone supervolcano would be one thousand times as powerful as the 1980 Mount St Helens eruption, experts claim.

While it has lain dormant for more than 70,000 years, scientists say that we can't rule out the possibility eruption this may some day take place - although they say the chances are extremely slim.

The eruption, the scientists say, could kill as many as 90,000 people almost instantly and release a 10 ft (3-meter) layer of molten ash 1,000 miles (1,609km) from the park.

'The ash would block off all points of entry from the ground, and the spread of ash and gases into the atmosphere would stop most air travel, just as it did when a much smaller volcano erupted in Iceland in 2010,' the magazine writes.

[BigEdLB]

I remember when St Helens erupted in 1980. The wheat farmers in the Dakotas has a bumper crop because of nutrients the ash added to the soil.

[Jack Hydrazine]

20 Years After Pinatubo: How Volcanoes Could Alter Climate

"The Pinatubo eruption pushed an umbrella-like cloud of rock, ash and gas more than 22 miles (35 kilometers) into the sky above the Philippines, and planet-cooling aerosols left by the gas lingered in the air around the globe for as long as three years."

"During the eruption of Pinatubo on June 15, 1991, a cloud 684 miles wide (1,100 kilometers) and 22 miles high (35 kilometers) formed over the volcano, carrying about 17 megatons of sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere, according to researchers led by Stephen Self of the University of Hawaii at Manoa writing in the USGS publication "Fire and Mud."

"While the larger particles of ash fell out of the sky fairly quickly, the sulfur dioxide became fine droplets, or aerosols, of sulfuric acid. These prevented inbound solar energy from reaching the planet's surface, which caused global cooling. The cloud of aerosols created by Pinatubo created spread around the globe in about three weeks and ultimately caused a dramatic decrease in the amount of solar energy reaching the planet, according to the researchers."

"As a result, from 1992 to 1993, large parts of the planet cooled as much as 0.7 degrees Fahrenheit (0.4 degrees Celsius), they wrote."

[Texas Eagle]

90,000 dead faster than you can say Ellie Zolfagharifard.

[rbg81]

What if it erupts killer sharks?

[skimbell]

Sharkruption!!

[Bratch]

Call Tara Reid.

[Jack Hydrazine]

“What if it erupts killer sharks?”

With fricken laser beams on their heads?

[null and void]

What if it erupts killer sharks?

SHARKCANO!

[GOPJ]

90,000 dead? Wishful thinking on DM’s part.

I can see 90,000 deaths in the first 9 minutes...

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

I’ve read that we can prevent the eruption from occurring.

The energy can be harnessed to supply unlimited geothermal energy to the region.

[Ken522]

Sharktopus II!

[Jonty30]

Call me crazy, and I’m certainly speaking with a bit of ignorance because I don’t know the volcano underneath Yellowstone to know if this would work, but they might be able to relieve pressure by drilling some holes and generating power through geothermal.

[P-Marlowe]

Once every 600,000 years, Yellowstone erupts. Once every 10 million years a meteor about a mile across hits Earth. I think that in the foreseeable future we are much more menaced by government overreach than being buried in volcanic ash or incineration.

And once every 2 years we have a meaningless election where we go to the polls to send people to Washington to rob us of our life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.

[Snickering Hound]

Some reporter was watching National Geographic last night.

[P-Marlowe]

Call me crazy, and I’m certainly speaking with a bit of ignorance because I don’t know the volcano underneath Yellowstone to know if this would work, but they might be able to relieve pressure by drilling some holes and generating power through geothermal.

The amount of potential energy under Yellowstone is more than has ever been generated or could be generated by human beings in 100,000 years.

So, in a word... No.

[hadaclueonce]

There is no money to be made on this prediction.

It has be public knowledge for at least 20 years.

If there was some money to be made, Al Gore would be all for it. Maybe the earth ice water injections thingy would not work. We could put a surtax on like we had during the Viet Nam war..Fat Al could get the contract...

[VanDeKoik]

Time for the monthly super volcano scare story.

[Little Ray]

And don’t forget the New Madrid fault, just waiting to re-route the Mississippi and take out much of the Eastern US!

[TADSLOS]

85,000 of them would be busloads of Chinese tourists.

[BobL]

Cool, Houston is only lightly hit. LOL.

When I’m on liberal sites and feel like trolling, I’ll say something like:

“I’ve been to Yellowstone many times, and I’ve also seen REAL volcanoes, like Mt. Shasta. Trust me, Yellowstone is no volcano.”

That always gets them going...