Posted on 04/01/2005 3:01:49 PM PST by DannyTN
"Super volcano" could dwarf Indonesia's earthquake catastrophes: expert
Fri Apr 1,12:21 AM ET Science - AFP
SYDNEY (AFP) - As Indonesians struggled to recover from the second deadly earthquake to strike them in three months, an Australian expert warned the country faced the prospect of a "super volcano" eruption that would dwarf all previous catastrophes.
AFP/File Photo
Professor Ray Cas of Monash University's School of Geosciences said the world's biggest super volcano was Lake Toba, on Indonesia's island of Sumatra, site of both the recent massive earthquakes.
Cas told Australian media Friday that Toba sits on a faultline running down the middle of Sumatra -- just where some seismologists say a third earthquake might strike following the 9.0 magnitude quake on December 26 and Monday's 8.7 temblor.
Those quakes occurred along faultlines running just off Sumatra's west coast and created seismological stresses which could hasten an eruption.
Cas said Toba last erupted 73,000 years ago in an event so massive that it altered the entire world's climate.
"The eruption released 1,000 cubic kilometers (240 cubic miles) of ash and rock debris into the atmosphere, much of it as fine ash which blocked out solar radiation, kicking the world back into an ice age," he said.
The scientist said super volcanos represented the greatest potential hazard on earth, "the only greater threat being an asteroid impact from space".
"A super volcano will definitely erupt," he said.
"It could be in a few, 50 or another 1000 years but sooner or later one is going to go off."
Other super volcanos are found in Italy, South America, the United States and New Zealand -- where Mount Taupo could be ready for eruption.
"It has a big eruption every 2,000 years, and it last erupted about 2,000 years ago," Cas said.
The potential death toll from a super volcano eruption "could reach the hundreds of thousands to millions and there are serious implications on climate, weather and viability of food production," Cas said.
"The big problem is a lot of the volcanoes that potentially could erupt are perhaps not monitored to the degree that they should be, and of course we learnt that lesson from the Boxing Day tsunami disaster," he said.
Keep in mind, these are scientists you are talking to. It was probably their idea of a joke.
There's a geothermal plant on the island of Hawaii that everyone hates. They were planning to make a bunch more; don't know what came of it. It stunk, sounded horrible, made everyone around it sick.
Where is that?
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hmm Discovery Chnl (pretty sure its them) has an upcoming movie called "Supervolcano" (maybe its just the BBC movie mentioned earlier)
wow, what a cool coincidence this story came out right before the movie airs!
Not like they could do anything about it anyway, short of order evacuations. So where do you run from a global catastrophe?
.....After the eruption 73,000 years ago, the human population dropped drastically and reached a bottleneck population of about 1,000 people (the bare minimum needed to sustain the species in a healthy fashion.)....
Those of us who are sceptics wonder about this very plausible statement. Could you provide a reference where I could learn more about this aspect of the last Toba eruption.
Leni
"Where is that?"
You mean Long Valley (AKA those mountains around the town of Mammoth) ? It's on the east side of the Sierras in California near the Nevada border south of Mono Lake and north of Bishop. It's like a smaller (but still huge 10-20 miles wide) version of Yellowstone. The Caldera is so big you have no idea you're actually sitting in the middle of a volcano.
It acts up from time to time and is still very much an active volcano just on "time out" at the moment.
Grow lights....it might be time to befriend a libertarian.
Saw a documentary on the Krakatoa eruption in 1883 the other night on PBS. Very enlightening about the history of that disaster and also the possibilities of a modern recurrence from any of several active volcanoes.
By the way, a new volcanic island has built up out of the sea at the Krakatoa site in the Sunda Strait.
Do you have a map on location of this Super Volcano ?
I know it's in Indonesia.
It wouldn't make a difference if Yellowstone blew. Almost everything west of the Mississippi will be buried in ash as it was in the past.
All the more reason for mankind to get off the planet.
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