A Giant Blob of Hot Rock Is Building Up Under America's Northeast

sciencealert.com ^ | 6/24/2018 | peter dockrill

[bitt]

Something is rising from the depths.

A vast mass of hot rock is welling up underneath Vermont and extending into other subterranean regions below New England, new research shows.

Scientists used a network of thousands of seismic measurement devices in the largest geological study of its kind, detecting the enormous blob upwelling under Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts – and possibly elsewhere.

[HiTech RedNeck]

The earth has been like this from the word go.

We got folks with their hair on fire about the fumes of humanity’s own feeble fires. A jillion tons of magma say “You think that’s something? Watch this!”

[Ken H]

Also from Science Alert, June 22, 2018 =>

#500QueerScientists Celebrates Diversity in Science - Something We Desperately Need

https://www.sciencealert.com/500-queer-scientists-diversity-role-models-lgbtq-science

[Ken H]

“Anyway, have fun with the new New England Caldera. Maybe resulting hot springs will allow for more tourism someday.”

So you think it’s going to blow in the next 100 years or so?

Even the people at Science Alert say it will likely be millions of years, if it ever happens.

Interesting reading in the meantime => https://www.sciencealert.com/politics-policy

[Ken H]

“God will not be mocked....”

Do you give this outfit any credibility? More from Science Alert =>

“On the first day of summer, midway through another historically hot year for the planet, meteorologists worldwide are wearing global warming-themed ties to raise awareness about climate change.”

https://www.sciencealert.com/more-than-100-television-meteorologists-around-world-wearing-tie

______

See also posts #42 and #43. Honestly, folks.

[jiggyboy]

Best analysis! There’s probably something like that under San Francisco too.

[NonValueAdded]

There goes ski season

[oldasrocks]

Actually with enough volcanoes you will have a 12 month long ski season due to global cooling.

[P.O.E.]

The Balrog?

[Cyclone59]

Hate the fact that it is under such a beautiful part of the country, too bad it is not under DC and on the brink of eruption. A giant sink hole about 5 miles inside the beltway would be perfection.

[MissEdie]

Dang it! I need eye bleach now!!! Oh my eyes!!!!

[mewzilla]

For anyone wishing to geek out, the abstract of the study on which this is based...

Seismic evidence for a recently formed mantle upwelling beneath New England

[gwjack]

Thank you for posting this. While others jest and make light, I see the need for my personal research to see if the progress of this phenomena leads to “loosing” hydrocarbons that have been heretofore unreachable. This “hot rock” being 124-125 miles beneath the surface is over a hundred twenty miles deeper than current fracking. But, to me, it is worth exploring to see if one could profit from the finding.

Again, thanks.

Gwjack

P.S. What some see as problems or folly sometimes leads to great opportunities.

[Bigg Red]

Mark

[dougiefresh]

It’s a good excuse to ask for more federal funding.

[freedumb2003]

>>So, I guess it would be inappropriate to say “Oh no, we’re all gonna die!”.<<

Minorities and women hurt worst.

[MUDDOG]

Fire next time.

[I want the USA back]

Under the Earth’s crust, is a mass of hot, molten magma. Has been there since the formation of the Earth. It’s fluid.

Nothing new here. Not caused by “global warming” or by Trump.

[Robert A Cook PE]

I’m skeptical of this one. For dozens of years, the only NE Cat 3 seismic activity has been up and the fault under the St Lawrence River. And those have been few in number.

[salmon76]

...Giant Blob...Under...

Nevermind...that was just Michael Moore riding the subway

[familyop]

"So you think it’s going to blow in the next 100 years or so?"

Oh, I don't know at all. No one knows, but recent seismic and other geo-activities did bring attention to the area. There was also the usual denial about the "booms." Here's what I found out about the noises for some areas.

There are cracks in some areas not defined as faults in earthquake zones--for example, some parts of alluvial plain areas without faults but maybe with rockier glaciofluvial deposits a few hundred feet below the surface. The "booms" and shudders might be coming from cracks in rock that's a few hundred feet below alluvium, though (layers of dirt, sand, gravel, etc.), as those cracks widen once in a while. Counter-intuitive, yes. You'd think it would be cracks closing instead. ;-)

Could a new caldera appear in a place not known for earthquakes? Probably, but I wouldn't expect it to blow very hard without an existing hardened dome under it. Maybe it will rise all the way to the surface and slowly ooze magma, maybe over millions and millions of years (Carl Sagan voice there) or maybe pretty soon. ...could accelerate with some once-in-a-great-while, short-term changes in the earth, you know.

Look at the magnetic field movement, before we lost physical track of magnetic north (only estimates without on-site locations for years now...moves around too much and too fast) with smaller magnetic fields developing here and there around the planet (already happening). If a flip occurs, the middle part of the flip (the middle 25 to 50 degrees, somewhere in there) could happen extremely quickly.

"Even the people at Science Alert say it will likely be millions of years, if it ever happens."

May be!

"Interesting reading in the meantime =>
https://www.sciencealert.com/politics-policy"

Thank you. It is interesting! Looks like political geo-science central--very political. It's almost like a window to the ideas of the main plotters and schemers of political strategies and investing based on possible geological and local cosmic changes in progress.

It's doubtful that mankind can do anything to noticeably alter the way that the earth works at this point in history. The atmosphere is like a machine that is many times more powerful than anything we could do to alter its movements including a hypothetical disturbance with all of the nuclear weapons on the planet detonated at the same time. Small pops compared to a few pretty good volcanic eruptions.

But there could be big money for some in knowing roughly when, once in a great while, a natural occurrence will bring a change in the weather (agriculture) or spur a migration (real estate and all kinds of other economic activities).

There are two such occasional natural occurrences happening now: the magnetic field deviation (and increased jitter) and the extended solar minimum (that is, relatively low sun activity during one or more maximums that happen about every 11 years).

People in some of the sciences can also try to promote some hysteria with exaggerations about geological events that happen once in a great while (maybe tens of thousands of years for an appreciable magnetic field change, or even a full flip). Those exaggerations (horror stories) can be published for the consumption of rich or politically influential donors. Et, voila! Funding, and maybe even more government offices for making more crazy websites!

The trick is to manufacture a story about *controlling* the climate. That way, there is hope! They only need the funding to fix the problem.

And then there are proposed regulations for allowing special interests to take exclusive control over some natural resources and industries, and that's where the scam starts to get really ugly.

There's also the fuel crunch ahead. Truth is, that's really going to happen. Hundreds of millions of people in Asia, for only one area as an example, are just dying to get behind the wheel for the first time. That's going to take a lot of gas, which will take a lot of oil. There are also other forms of transportation needed to get luxuries to hundreds of millions more, more manufacturing, etc.

Speaking of hundreds of millions, what about the poor folks in Africa. If we could only bring them all up north here, then they'd surely learn to live as we do and adopt our culture of *diversity* (white, straight men excluded, of course).

Is it crazy enough, yet? If a few people could control big reactions to rare, natural changes in the environment by knowing what will happen in advance and having the money to move politics, they could rule the world! Muwaaahahahahahahahahahahaha! [Simon Bar Sinister, the so-called "tech." mogul wringing his hands (really a glorified investor and website maker).]

And what if someone with plenty of moolah for investing could find scientists capable of making a few other investors live for hundreds of years? Think of the opportunity for ruling the world there and for reducing the number of billionaires by soaking many of them (more competition the political way).

It just goes to show us, everybody's freaking out. Well, some people. And situations with people might change much in the near future, but the earth won't change so much. Only some of that rare, periodical shake, rattle and roll, maybe, and more gases spewing into the sky, more drought here and there, and... Then, the planet will go rolling along more smoothly again.

As for many of the folks with the huge bucks, by the way, my guess is that they're going to lose it all with no place in any markets at some point in time to keep money. Why? Because that happens every now and then in history, and the reasons for it (no place to keep money sometimes, changes in policies, wars, new discoveries etc.). And everything that we've made will eventually biodegrade with the earth continuing to hum along with plenty of new, recycling life on it.