Prepare To Die!
Posted on 11/08/2007 1:47:04 PM PST by blam
Magma surge causes record rise at Yellowstone
19:00 08 November 2007
NewScientist.com news service
Catherine Brahic
The remains of the Yellowstone supervolcano in the US is huffing and puffing and rising by up to 7 centimetres a year, say researchers. They speculate this rise is caused by a mass of molten rock the size of Los Angeles being forced from the Earth’s mantle into the magma chamber beneath the ancient volcano.
But the researchers, led by Wu-Lung Chang of the University of Utah in the US, caution that the movement does not mean an explosion is imminent. Calderas – the massive craters that are left behind when a volcano collapses – all over the world go up and down over decades.
The Yellowstone caldera was formed during the huge volcano's last massive eruption 642,000 years ago, which released enough ash to cover half of the US with tens of centimetres of ash. As the magma chamber was emptied out during the eruption, the volcano collapsed, creating the massive crater.
The area remains North America's largest volcanic field, fuelled by a gigantic plume of hot, molten rock which begins at least 400 miles beneath the surface. Blobs of magma occasionally break off and bubble up, resupplying the Caldera's magma chamber. The heat generated by this chamber powers Yellowstone's famous geysers.
Fastest rate From mid-2004 to late 2006, Chang and colleagues measured deformations at the surface of the caldera using GPS stations and radar measurements made from the European satellite Envisat.
Earlier in 2007, another team used similar measurements to detect bulges in the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii, which has helped them determine where the next eruption of the volcano is likely to happen.
(Excerpt) Read more at environment.newscientist.com ...
Time for the History Channel to roll out that Mega Disasters episode.
Prepare To Die!
Another result of global warming!!!!
Yep, crossing Yellowstone off of my places to visit... ;-)
If eruptions of the Yellowstone volcano are periodic, then according to scientists, it is due for an eruption sometime within the next 150,000 years. I guess that means it could be tomorrow.
I take this and the threat of a meteor strike far more seriously than I do any catastrophe-through-global-warming alarmism.
quick, everyone buy carbon credits so this disaster, which will happen 500,000 in the future, won’t happen..
Given the scale of previous eruptions, you'd need to cross off the entire western half of the U.S. In the unlikely event that Yellowstone explodes, it wouldn't matter much whether you were in the park or 350 miles away.
Actually it DOES mean it’s as likely tomorrow as any other day....
I thought Caldera was the bandit chief that attacked the village in The Magnificent Seven.
Funny...as a geologist, my first thought was, "wish I could be there to see it when it goes!" A part of me envies David Johnston.
Perhaps we can reduce the magma but tapping into it, and pumping it South to use in building a real wall along the border?
The Jemez mountains in NW New Mexico is a large volcano that’s supposed to blow some time in the next 200,000 years. That’s why we moved.
“I take this and the threat of a meteor strike far more seriously than I do any catastrophe-through-global-warming alarmism.”
President Hillary Clinton would be on my list, along with meteors and a Yellowstone explosion
The ash plume from a large explosion at Yellowstone would screw up agriculture half way across the United States...the world's bread basket. My area of southeast Idaho would likely get nailed by a pyroclastic cloud. It's unlikely we could out run it even with quick access to I-15 or I-86.
Actually my friend here at work has been watching this for some time now.....
His plan is to drill at a 45 degree angle from northern Montana until you hit the magma pocket and it all shoots out the hole, and then say “Oh my, how did that happen?” to the Canadians.....
Anywhere on earth will get you killed if it blows.
Late Pleostocene Human Population Bottlenecks. . . (Toba)
"The six year long volcanic winter and 1000-year-long instant Ice Age that followed Mount Toba's eruption may have decimated Modern Man's entire population. Genetic evidence suggests that Human population size fell to about 10,000 adults between 50 and 100 thousand years ago. "
I think that most scientists believe that the eruption, when it occurs, will have world-wide implications. I don't think you'll be able to hide much of anyplace.
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