Its Time to Cast a Worried Eye Toward Yellowstone

YOWUSA ^ | 8/22/03 | Larry Park & Marshall Masters

[Dixielander]

Yesterday afternoon, a 4.4 magnitude earthquake occurred just 9 miles southeast of the south entrance to Yellowstone National Park. According to the USGS, “It is unlikely that there is a connection or triggering mechanism of the earthquake with the increased hydrothermal activity at Norris Geyser Basin, which is about 35 miles from the epicenter or with hydrothermal features in Yellowstone Lake that have received recent publicity.” However, given the shallow depth of this quake, the volcanism model developed by Larry Park has suddenly lurched us a huge step towards a worst-case eruption event.

Simply put, anyone living within 600 miles of Yellowstone could be sitting in a modern day Pompeii. In addition, for those living outside this area and West of the Mississippi river, there could be grievous consequences as well because systemic processes are now building beneath Yellowstone, that paint a very clear picture of a major eruption event in its early stages

In this article, Larry Park will present the science behind his warning. However, as the publisher of YOWUSA.COM, I wish to put some context to all this in layman’s terms as now as I personally feel the time has come for everyone living west of the Mississippi to become aware and to begin making a calm and deliberate assessment of the facts. This especially applies to those presently living within 600 miles of Yellowstone. However, what does the USGS say?

USGS, 07-February-2003

[ElectricRook]

Seems a little over-sensationalized to me. Granted if YS can produce a 1000x bigger ash fall than St. H, those living down wind can expect to be deep in the gray stuff. The western US does not receive wind from the east, mostly western flow, jet stream etc. I would expect to see a tear-drop shape of ash fall. That's what we saw with St. H.

With previous eruptions, with upper atmosphere shading, we saw lower temps, not higher. And the predictions were for cooling trends lasting decades. We got 2 years max. Down wind areas saw significant "fertilizer effect" the next year. Caused by pollutants (ahem nutrients) deposited on crop lands.

But that's just my opinion, I'm not a scientist, I'm an observer.

[Quix]

Had been SOMEWHAT discounting the Yellowstone warning stuff.

But have read more of the hotshot doing the cutting edge studies on precursor data . . . I now think he's onto something.


Having been through Mt St Helens in Spokane, I want to avoid ever again being caught so unprepared for such. We didn't move our car for at least a week. Thankfully, we were within a block or so of work.

The mask suggestions are wise, indeed.

The ash is HEAVY--and like talcum powder in consistency.

Nasty stuff for machines and the lungs.

Great for plants.

Good for scouring pans.

Whether it's this disaster or another . . . getting ready is essential.

*THEY*

ARE

COMING.

[Slicksadick]

ping

[Bernard Marx]

I would expect to see a tear-drop shape of ash fall.

If my interpretation is correct (as well as my college geology from years ago), the map shows present-day tuffs dating from previous eruptions (Lava Creek Tuff and Huckleberry Ridge Tuff). So there's no guesswork involved -- we have direct present-day evidence of where the ash went.

[Sangamon Kid]

Hey! What's the volcanic forecast for next week? I'm taking the wife and kids out there for 2 weeks. What, me worry? If it blows we'll just surf the pyroclastic flow all the way back to Illinois.

[DuncanWaring]

...Good for scouring pans. ...

Whaddaya think's in "Lava Soap"?

[CurlyDave]

it could cause a major cooldown of the planet, seriously cutting the food supply and potentially causing starvation on a huge scale.

We need to immdiately fight back by increasing SUV production.

[Dixielander]

What a dreadful, nasty experience. Glad you survived it!

tacda.org is offering a particulate respirator at a very reasonable cost. Will you please check it out and let me know if you think it would have helped you during the Mt. St. Helens disaster? Thanks in advance.

[Centurion2000]

Looks like the publishers are cut from the same mold as Art Bell.

As bad as this eruption could be I'll take all the advanced warning I can get. A series of earthquakes in the caldera is a volcano is a BAD SIGN.

[Wacka]

In February there were 4 quakes between 3.0-4.2 in 2 hours one mile from my home. We're all gonna die!!!!!!!!!!

Mammoth Lakes, CA has several quakes a day and MAY erupt in thousands of years.

The Geysers, CA also has at least a dozen quakes a day. i think we're fine for at least our lifetimes.

[DJtex]

Looks like the publishers are cut from the same mold as Art Bell.

No offense, but this is not BS at all. Admittedly, just because the Yellowstone caldera has gone off every 600,000 years for the last 2.5 million years, and just because it last erupted 600,000 years ago--that does not guarantee that it's going to erupt in our lifetimes. But the ground throughout the park has risen over 40 inches in the last 50-60 years, and there are disturbing, very current signs that activity is "heating up" (pardon the pun).

The Discovery Channel has shown a program called "Supervolcanos" a few times. If you'd seen it, you'd not call this "Art Bell" propaganda.

[Dixielander]

My brother moved into his new house ten days before the Northridge earthquake occurred. His house is located three miles from the epicenter. Although there was some damage to his house, it was minimal compared to what others nearby suffered, and thankfully he and his family weren't harmed. Several months later I toured the Northridge area and was overwhelmed at the damage the quake had caused and the lives lost because of it.

[JerseyHighlander]

Weather patterns were probably different, the Rockies were taller, the Pacific a different temperature, etc.

[Free Vulcan]

Bottom line is if this thing blows and lava flows to the magnitude of the last ones, it's cataclysmic in scale. Were not talking about going back to the Dark Ages, we are talking the Stone Age, at least here in America, if any part is even habitable immediately afterwards. Most of the rest of the world will fall into anarchy and starve from the economic black hole we leave (plus cooling effects from the dust), so this is the civilization equivalent to the reset button on your computer. Which means I'm not really going to worry about it 'cause I would shortly be dead after it happened.

[Dixielander]

Thanks for the reassurance! Does that mean that I needn't buy a mask even though I'm east of the Mississippi?

[cyborg]

Don't hate. I said don't hate on Art Bell who is coming back to radio (XM broadband) :adjusting my tinfoil cap:

[Poohbah]

What we need to do is to get the Earth First! types, the al-Qaeda-loving Birkenstock crowd, and all the other "usual suspects" of the left to gather in Yellowstone right before the big bang to protest "Da Man's" secret conspiracy to destroy Yellowstone National Park. :o)

Call it The First Annual "Vaporizing Man" Party. :o)

[farmfriend]

Rights, farms, environment ping.

Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.

[Quix]

Was never in doubt about Lava soap even as a kid.

I think the wrapper has been informative enough!

[flying Elvis]

I saw the show on on the Discovery Channel and found it interesting but not worthy of losing sleep over. If it indeed comes to pass, there is nothing I can do about it, and I won't be around afterwards. Accordingly we are also due for another ice age as well as a major impact from an object in space.

That being said, Art Bell caters to those who enjoy conspiracy theories and scaring themselves. The tenor of the site this article was lifted from is of that cast. Everything on that site was about doom and destruction intended to give people the "willies." That being said, I was not disparaging the information gleaned from serious scientific websites.

While the site YOWUSA may be of the Chicken Little variety, the map lifted from the Univeristy of Wisconsin notes that the "Zircon and Quartz data show the geochemical data of a waning cycle." I contend that 60 years of monitoring is not enough data to establish one way or another if the caldera is going to do anything soon. What if the measurements are nothing more than part of a 1,000 year cycle? This is the same mistake the environazi's make. They take data from a miniscule amount of time geologically speaking and attempt to say that it indicates the worst. So, who knows?