Giant Volcano Under Yellowstone Park Stirring to Life

www.foxnews.com ^ | March 01, 2006 | Bjorn Carey

[Esther Ruth]

Giant Volcano Under Yellowstone Park Stirring to Life Wednesday, March 01, 2006 By Bjorn Carey

Forces brewing deep beneath Yellowstone National Park could be making one of the largest volcanoes on Earth even bigger, a new study reveals.

In the past decade, part of the volcano has risen nearly five inches, most likely due to a backup of flowing molten rock miles below the planet's crust.

While the rise may not be noticeable to the casual hiker, the activity may have cracked the crust in the park's famous Norris Geyser Basin (NGB), leading to the formation of new fumaroles — holes that vent smoke and gas — and the reawakening of some of the area's geysers, including Steamboat, the largest geyser in the world.

Yellowstone last erupted about 640,000 years ago, spewing 240 cubic miles of material. Despite the newly discovered activity, researchers don't expect it to erupt any time soon.

Eventually, however, it could explode again as a super-volcano that would destroy life for hundreds of miles around and coat the entire country in ash.

Up and down

Radar observations from the European Space Agency's ERS-2 satellite reveal that the jellybean-shaped Yellowstone caldera — a giant depression caused by past volcanic explosions — began to rise in 1995.

[FlipWilson]

Here it comes. I'm gonna do it. I CAN'T RESIST. . . .


IT'S BUSH'S FAULT!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

[ConservativeBamaFan]

Oh, great . . . something else to fear. That's all we need. If the Bird Flu doesn't get you, the underground Yellowstone volcano will.

[manglor]

The big one is coming. California is going to break off and float away.

[ElkGroveDan]

Memo to self: Cancel Montana vacation this year.

[MplsSteve]

I don't suppose there's a giant volcanic Pepto-Bismol we could give it - is there?

[slapshot]

Beans, bratwursts, beer and broccoli to be banned in yellowstone.

[Not A Snowbird]

We're dooooooomed!

[Proud_USA_Republican]

If your driving down I-5 in Seattle one morning, and you see heards of stampeding buffalo crossing over it and jumping into the pacific ocean, duck and cover, the yellowstone super volcano is going to explode. Animals can sense these things are going to happen before humans.

[finnman69]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/supervolcano/programme.shtml

Supervolcano


Beneath the beauty of Yellowstone

Amidst the stunning wilderness of America's most famous National Park, steam and hot water bubble and hiss from thousands of colourful, mineral-encrusted springs and vents. Together with its wildlife and spectacular scenery, these geothermal phenomena make Yellowstone one of the most incredible places on the planet. But America's most popular tourist attraction is also a time-bomb that could spell disaster for us all.

The hot springs, geysers and bubbling mud pools are all outward manifestations of a huge body of magma residing not far beneath the surface. The land around Yellowstone regularly swells and subsides - each breath raising the ground level by up to a couple of metres. Scientists know one day this bulging, molten lava will burst through the Earth's crust – it's just a question of when.

Annihilation breathes

The last super-eruption plunged the world into a freezing, volcanic winter that lasted a decade, and threatened the human population with extinction. Based on the predictions of top volcano experts and the detailed planning and evacuation strategies of government agencies, this explosive factual drama examines what would happen if this catastrophic event were to occur again.

State-of-the-art computer graphics integrated with mock-factual sources make for a horrifyingly realistic build-up to the eruption and the climax itself. Then the devastating aftermath across the globe is revealed – environmentally, politically, economically and socially – as viewers glimpse the future and a post-apocalyptic world.


Supervolcano: The Truth About Yellowstone

Directly following Supervolcano, a two-episode documentary reveals the cutting-edge research that informed the drama. Meet the experts who monitor the behaviour of the Yellowstone supervolcano. They face the awesome responsibility of predicting when the next super-eruption might next take place – and advising on what will happen when it does.

The programme goes behind the scenes to reveal the work being done to try to understand the sequence of events that could one day culminate in this apocalypse, and to calculate the global fall-out that would follow it.

[Neville72]

Uh oh. My brother and his family live in Lander, WY about 90 miles away.

Better tell him to keep the cars' gas tanks topped off.

[Domangart]

Up or out? I always felt it would sink on it's own.

[Proud_USA_Republican]

good riddens!!!

[RegulatorCountry]

"Beans, bratwursts, beer and broccoli to be banned in yellowstone."

Mandatory Beano, lol.

[Don Carlos]

I knew it would happen, thats why I moved south!

[retrokitten]

Forces brewing deep beneath Yellowstone National Park could be making one of the largest volcanoes on Earth even bigger, a new study reveals.

There was even a stupid Discovery Channel movie about it.

*Note to self: If you see a massive herd of buffalo running past, just go with them. They are probably on to something.

[jdm]

"holes that vent smoke and gas"

Maybe the volcano is really just Michael Moore getting up from a nap.

[mtbopfuyn]

You forgot Global Warming vs. The New Ice Age. And giant meteors. And mad cow desease.

[dirtboy]

If the Bird Flu doesn't get you, the underground Yellowstone volcano will.

Yellowstone is nothing to sneeze at.

The last supervolcano to erupt, Toba, was 75,000 years ago. It is estimated that the eruption killed off all but a few thousand members of early homo sapiens.

[retrokitten]

LOL!! Beat me by a minute. :-D