Scientists closely monitoring Yellowstone. 200 degree ground temperatures reported.

Idaho Observer ^

[Happy2BMe]

Scientists Closely
Monitoring Yellowstone
ProLiberty.com
12-23-3

 

Recent eruptions, 200 degree ground temperatures, bulging magma and 84 degree water temperatures prompt heightened srutiny of park's geothermal activity...

 

BILLINGS, Mont. -- Yellowstone National Park happens to be on top of one of the largest "super volcanoes" in the world. Geologists claim the Yellowstone Park area has been on a regular eruption cycle of 600,000 years. The last eruption was 640,000 years ago making the next one long overdue. This next eruption could be 2,500 times the size of the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption. Volcanologists have been tracking the movement of magma under the park and have calculated that, in parts of Yellowstone, the ground has risen over seventy centimeters this century.

 

In July, 2003, Yellowstone Park rangers closed the entire Norris Geyser Basin because of deformation of the land and excessive high ground temperatures. There is an area that is 28 miles long by 7 miles wide that has bulged upward over five inches since 1996, and this year the ground temperature on that bulge has reached over 200 degrees (measured one inch below ground level).

 

There was no choice but to close off the entire area. Everything in this area is dying: The trees, flowers, grass and shrubs. A dead zone is developing and spreading outward. The animals are literally migrating out of the park.

 

Then during the last part of July one of the Park geologists discovered a huge bulge at the bottom of Yellowstone Lake. The bulge has already risen over 100 feet from the bottom of the lake and the water temperature at the surface of the bulge has reached 88 degrees and is still rising.

 

Keep in mind that Yellowstone Lake is a high mountain lake with very cold water temperatures. The Lake is now closed to the public. It is filled with dead fish floating everywhere. The same is true of the Yellowstone river and most of the other streams in the Park. Dead and dying fish are filling the water everywhere.

 

Many of the picnic areas in the Park have been closed and people visiting the Park usually stay but a few hours before leaving since the stench of sulfur is so strong they literally can't stand the smell.

 

The irony of all this is the silence by the news media and our government. Very little information is available from Yellowstone personnel or publications. What mainstream newsstories do appear underscore the likelihood of a massive volcanic eruption. Though geologists publicly admit Yellowstone is "overdue," they have been quoted as stating another massive magma release may not occur for 100,000 or 2 million years. Others close to the story are convinced that a massive eruption is imminent. A source that has demonstrated first-hand knowledge of the park's history and recent geothermal events stated the following: "The American people are not being told that the explosion of this 'super volcano' could happen at any moment. When Yellowstone does blow, some geologists predict that every living thing within six hundred miles is likely to die. The movement of magma has been detected just three-tenths of a mile below the bulging surface of the ground in Yellowstone raising concerns that this super volcano may erupt soon."

 

 

This report was taken from a series of articles, emails and official information

http://www.proliberty.com/observer/20031219.htm

[Quix]

Having survived tons of ash on Spokane from Mt St Helens . . . living through dark in the middle of the day . . . leaving the car parked where it was a block away from home . . .

Warning would be a good thing.

[Sabertooth]

A Kiss the Ground We Live in California Bump

Better wear chapstick...

U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 172-96
Online Version 2.0

Invisible CO₂ Gas Killing Trees at Mammoth Mountain, California

 

Since 1980, scientists have monitored geologic unrest in Long Valley Caldera and at adjacent Mammoth Mountain, California. After a persistent swarm of earthquakes beneath Mammoth Mountain in 1989, geologists discovered that large volumes of carbon dioxide (CO₂ ) gas were seeping from beneath this volcano. This gas is killing trees on the mountain and also can be a danger to people. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) continues to study the CO₂ emissions to help protect the public from this invisible potential hazard.

 

Mammoth Mountain is a young volcano on the southwest rim of Long Valley Caldera, a large volcanic depression in eastern California. The Long Valley area, well known for its superb skiing, hiking, and camping, has been volcanically active for about 4 million years. The most recent volcanic eruptions in the region occurred about 200 years ago, and earthquakes frequently shake the area. Because of this, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) operates an extensive network of instruments to monitor the continuing unrest in the Long Valley area.

Numerous small earthquakes occurred beneath Mammoth Mountain from May to November 1989. Data collected from monitoring instruments during those months indicated that a small body of magma (molten rock) was rising through a fissure beneath the mountain. During the next year, U.S. Forest Service rangers noticed areas of dead and dying trees on the mountain. After drought and insect infestations were eliminated as causes, a geologic explanation was suspected. USGS scientists then made measurements and discovered that the roots of the trees were being killed by exceptionally high concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO₂) gas in the soil. Today, areas of dead and dying trees at Mammoth Mountain total more than 100 acres. The town of Mammoth Lakes, just east of this volcano, has not been affected.

Mammoth Mountain, a young volcano in eastern California, sits on the southwest rim of Long Valley Caldera. In 1994, scientists detected high concentrations of CO₂ gas in the soil on Mammoth Mountain. This invisible gas, seeping from beneath the volcano, is killing trees on the sides of the mountain and can pose a threat to humans. Recent measurements indicate that the total rate of CO₂ gas emission at Mammoth Mountain is close to 300 tons per day. In this photo, large areas of dead and dying trees are visible near Horseshoe Lake, on the southeast flank of Mammoth Mountain. (Copyrighted photo courtesy of John D. Rogie.)

Areas of dead and dying trees at Mammoth Mountain volcano total more than 100 acres. In 1990, the year after a persistent swarm of small earthquakes occurred beneath the volcano, U.S. Forest Service rangers first noticed areas of tree kill. When U.S. Geological Survey scientists investigated, they discovered that the trees are being killed by high concentrations of CO2 gas in the soil. The seepage of CO2 gas from below Mammoth Mountain and the continued occurrence of local earthquakes are signs of the ongoing geologic unrest in the area. The upper part of the 11,053-foot-high volcano (above 9,500 feet) is shown in darker shades of green (map, top right).

Although leaves of plants produce oxygen (O₂) from CO₂ during photosynthesis, their roots need to absorb O₂ directly. The high CO₂ concentrations in the soil on Mammoth Mountain are killing trees by denying their roots O₂ and by interfering with nutrient uptake. In the areas of tree kill, CO₂ makes up about 20 to 95% of the gas content of the soil; soil gas normally contains 1% or less CO₂.

When CO₂ from soil leaves the ground, it normally mixes with the air and dissipates rapidly. CO₂ is heavier than air, however, and it can collect at high concentrations in the lower parts of depressions and enclosures, posing a potential danger to people. Breathing air with more than 30% CO₂ can very quickly cause unconsciousness and death. Therefore, poorly ventilated areas above and below ground can be dangerous in areas of CO₂ seepage. Where thick snowpacks accumulate in winter, the CO₂ can be trapped within and beneath the snow. Dangerous levels of CO₂ have been measured in pits dug in the snowpack in tree-kill areas on Mammoth Mountain, and snow-cave camping in such areas is not advised.

CO₂ gas seeping from the ground at Mammoth Mountain is likely derived from magma (molten rock) beneath the volcano. In 1989, rising magma may have opened cracks, allowing large amounts of trapped CO₂ gas to leak upward along faults. High concentrations of CO₂ in soil can kill the roots of trees. CO₂ gas is heavier than air, and when it leaks from the soil, it can collect in snowbanks, depressions, and poorly ventilated enclosures, such as cabins and tents, posing a potential danger to people.

In 1989–90, trees in this area on the south side of Mammoth Mountain volcano began dying from high concentrations of CO2 gas in the soil. Although leaves of plants produce oxygen (O2) from CO2 during photosynthesis, their roots need to absorb O2 directly. High CO2 concentrations in the soil kill plants by denying their roots O2 and by interfering with nutrient uptake. In the areas of tree kill at Mammoth Mountain, CO2 makes up about 20 to 95% of the gas content of the soil. Inset (right photo) shows scientists measuring soil gas in this area.

Geologists have detected CO₂ emissions, like those at Mammoth Mountain, on the flanks of other volcanoes, including Kilauea in Hawaii and Mount Etna in Sicily. Measuring the total rate of CO₂ gas emissions on the flanks of volcanoes or within calderas is difficult and labor intensive and is commonly done using portable infrared CO₂ detectors.

Recent measurements at Mammoth Mountain indicate that the total rate of CO₂ gas emission is close to 300 tons per day. This value varies on both short (days to weeks) and long (months to years) time scales because of changes in atmospheric conditions and in the rate at which gas is being released from beneath the volcano.

Past eruptions at Mammoth Mountain, such as the phreatic (steam blast) eruptions that occurred about 700 years ago on the volcano’s north flank, may have been accompanied by CO₂ emissions. Scientists think that the current episode of high CO₂ emissions is the first such activity on the mountain for at least 250 years because the oldest trees in the active tree-kill areas are about that age. Carbon-isotopic analyses of the annual growth rings in trees near the margins of the tree-kill areas imply that the gas-emission rate reached a peak in 1991, subsequently declined, and then has been relatively stable since about 1996.

CO₂ and other volcanic gases, like helium, seeping from Mammoth Mountain appear to be leaking from a large reservoir of gas supplied by repeated intrusions of magma. Tree-ring evidence from near springs on the mountain’s flanks shows that some CO₂ gas was leaking before 1989 and dissolving in the ground-water system. It is likely that the latest intrusion of magma (in 1989) opened deep fractures, increasing the rate of gas seepage.

The continuing occurrence of small earthquakes and CO₂ seepage beneath Mammoth Mountain are only two of the many signs of volcanic unrest in the area. Earthquakes and ground uplift are also occurring within the central part of Long Valley Caldera, only a few miles east of Mammoth Mountain, and the Mono-Inyo Craters volcanic chain to the north has had small volcanic eruptions every few hundred years for the past 4,000 years.

Scientists with the USGS Volcano Hazards Program are closely monitoring CO₂ emissions and other geologic hazards at Mammoth Mountain. The work of these scientists is only part of the USGS Volcano Hazards Program’s ongoing efforts to protect people’s lives and property in all of the volcanic regions of the United States, including the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, Hawaii, and Arizona.

 

Michael L. Sorey, Christopher D. Farrar, Terrance M. Gerlach, Kenneth A. McGee, William C. Evans, Elizabeth M. Colvard, David P. Hill, Roy A. Bailey, John D. Rogie, James W. Hendley II, and Peter H. Stauffer

Graphic design by
Susan Mayfield and Sara Boore
Banner design by Bobbie Myers

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COOPERATING ORGANIZATIONS
Mammoth Mountain Ski Area
Town of Mammoth Lakes
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service
Pennsylvania State University

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For more information contact:

Earthquake Information Hotline (650) 329–4085
U.S. Geological Survey, Mail Stop 977
345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025

http://lvo.wr.usgs.gov/

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Related Fact Sheets

Living With a Restless Caldera—Long Valley, California (USGS Fact Sheet 108–96)

Future Eruptions in California’s Long Valley Area—What’s Likely? (USGS Fact Sheet 073–97)

 

U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEYóREDUCING THE RISK FROM VOLCANO HAZARDS

Learn more about volcanoes at the USGS Volcano Hazards Program website

Download a PDF version of this fact sheet (1.43 Mb)

 

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Download a free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader version 4.0
(note: this document can be viewed with Acrobat Reader version 3.01)

For questions about the content of this report, contact Dave Hill

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URL of this page: http://geopubs.wr.usgs.gov/fact-sheet/fs172-96/
Maintained by: Carolyn Donlin
Created: 6-20-01
Last modified: 12-19-01(cad)

 

 
USGS link

[Squantos]

Dang I knew it .....they'll pro rate anything these days !

Stay safe !

[Quix]

As a shrink, I'm curious about the reason for your assertion about your BS meter.

Do you decry the science that noticed the intervals in the geologic record or what?

[Quix]

We could offer her the first scientific photo-op of a senator studying erupting volcanoes up close!

[Quix]

So, does that mean those of us in New Mexico would only have to be concerned about X inches of falling ash?

[RussianConservative]

Ok, I bite. Trees breath CO2, how it kill them? Sulfiric gas, I understand, CO2?

[HiTech RedNeck]

The erroneous views of some laymen about date independent systems negates a tidal wave of concern which welled up over the course of almost a decade IN THE SOFTWARE INDUSTRY ITSELF?

It's because of the army of programmers who were set loose on this issue, that Y2K actually came and went with as little trouble as it did.

[Quix]

Why is your BS meter acting up?

Have you been to Yellowstone?

Some of the areas normally smelled awful the last time I went. I din't linger in those areas.

How many tourists do you know LOVE to go and stay in areas which are revotingly wretching at a gut, visceral level?

[RandallFlagg]

OK, I'm claiming complete ignorance asking this but, couldn't we build a robot drilling mechanism to burrow to a less fragile area and "Bleed" off the pressure?

**lava-suit on**

[HiTech RedNeck]

A shrink called Quix? I'm outta here

[Quix]

What is so difficult to believe about that?

In Spokane, in the middle of the day, it was as dark as a foggy 02:00 in the morning because of the quantity of ash in the air. That was across the large state of Washington. Mt St Helens is a LOT smaller than Yellowstone's volcano. What is difficult to believe about the relative outputs of a large eruption?

Are you calling the geologists who've examined the geologica record liars or idiots or both? Why would you label them that way? Have you examined the record with enough training and diligence to confidently assert that they are wrong based on your own analysis?

Or are you just being a smart-arse?

[MissAmericanPie]

I was just stringing things together that had to do with 2012, plus I just finished watching a program on the History Channel about the Bible Codes and how they relate from naming the year Saddam would fall from power, this year, the attack on the twin towers and it also named the individual terrorists, and said Bush would win the election in 2000 over Gore.

As far as the future it reveals terrorist attacks, small pox bio attack, an earthquake in California, and the astroid hitting in 2012 followed by nuclear war born of the fight over dividing the land of Israel and most especially Jerusalem brought about by the Road Map. Of course there are pro's and con's for validation of the Codes. I have no opinion about them one way or the other as yet, but after that program I have certainly decided to keep one eye on them.

[oceanperch]

I do. Once a year my son drags me through Ripleys Believe it or Not on the Bayfront here in Newport, Oregon.

They have a whole mini doc. on Mt. St Helens the day it blew...so I am reminded yearly about ole Henry.

I really wish we could make the trip to the St. Helens out look center as everything is coming back to life. I have heard it is quite the view.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Might be worthwhile to pay at least as much attention to the plain text.

[MissAmericanPie]

I agree, of course. The documentary on the History Channel gave both pro and con as to the valdity of the codes. Hopefully they will replay it and you can check it out for yourself. I found it an interesting program, I don't know how much stock I put in it as yet.

[Quix]

You base your analysis of the article on what, exactly?

[Quix]

My closest analogy from my Spokane experience is that the ash is about the consistency of powdered cement and about as heavy.

If anything, it's finer grained than cement.

An inch of it on a roof is getting very heavy.

[Busywhiskers]

Any day now we will see the headlines---

"YELLOWSTONE SET FOR SUPER ERUPTION--DEMOCRAT CANDIDATES BLAME BUSH ADMINISTRATION DURING DEBATE"

[Quix]

Yes, a LOT of guessing is no doubt involved.

Nevertheless, IF they have examined the geologic record accurately about the relative timing of 29 eruptions over the last 10's of thousands of years, it is the best predictor we have, actuarially.