To: edpc
Inevitable indeed. From what they’ve been able to discern, the eruptions occur when the magma finds a weak spot in the crust. The caldera appears to ‘move’ since the plate has crept along over millions of years. Literally a matter of time until it finds another release point. Correct. My understanding (I'm not sure where I read this) is that a relatively thick / strong area of the crust has "recently"* covered the magma "hot spot", so we should be "ok" for a while, at least as regards a monster eruption. That still doesn't keep Yellowstone from being a very active area!
*In geologic terms.
49 posted on
09/02/2014 10:00:44 PM PDT by
Paul R.
(Leftists desire to control everything; In the end they invariably control nothing worth a damn.)
To: Paul R.; All
51 posted on
09/02/2014 10:03:51 PM PDT by
Paul R.
(Leftists desire to control everything; In the end they invariably control nothing worth a damn.)
To: Paul R.
a relatively thick / strong area of the crust has "recently"* covered the magma "hot spot" If the crust over Yellowstone was so impervious and fortress-like we wouldn't have any surface geothermal features at all. Obviously, that isn't the case.
57 posted on
09/02/2014 11:27:29 PM PDT by
steve86
( Acerbic by nature, not nurture)
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson