Yellowstone Is Rising on Swollen "Supervolcano"

[lovuian]

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/11/071108-yellowstone.html

Yellowstone National Park is rising. Its central region, called the Yellowstone caldera, has been moving upward since mid-2004 at a rate of up to three inches (seven centimeters) a year—more than three times faster than has ever been measured.

The surface is inflating like a bellows due to an infusion of magma about 6 miles (10 kilometers) underground, according to a new study published in tomorrow's issue of the journal Science.




But that doesn't mean Yellowstone is about to go the way of Mount St. Helens.

"There's no evidence of an imminent eruption or hydrothermal explosion," said Robert Smith, a geophysics professor at the University of Utah who co-authored the study.

"Supervolcano" Under Yellowstone

Yellowstone is situated on a giant, geologically active feature known as a supervolcano.

"It's hundreds of times bigger than Mount St. Helens," Smith said, referring to the active volcano in Washington State.
more...

I always like to keep an eye out on Yellowstone its so beautiful

[aquart]

1. So what does that mean?

It'll just keep getting taller?

[sakabatou]

2. Or it'll blow

[ruiner4u]

6. sometime in the next 20k years...

[shadowknows69]

37. hopefully it will take that long

I've heard some theories that say if it goes it will be the end of all things. End of anyone on this continent anyway.

[BadgerLaw2010]

48. Pretty much.

Direct casualties would be quite significant in the US, but agricultural and climatic damage would be tremendous worldwide.

[Virginia Dare]

59. Considering it would blow most of the western half of the U.S. away..

I'd say that would be pretty much it, yep.

[Poll_Blind]

7. From what I've read, the pressure will increase until something...

...allows it to escape. I don't mean that as a curt answer. Yellowstone, since I read up on it sometime last year, maybe year before that, has really concerned me. If you Google it you can find all sorts of interesting (and unfortunately alarming) things about it. The area in question, which has been elevated, is absolutely enormous. It's an area you can't show with a camera, only with a map.

PB

[havocmom]

8. Means more trees die as their roots cook

Sometimes there are gasses that belch up. In the past, if it happens in winter, it can kill animals in the wrong place at the wrong time - cold air sorta keeps a 'lid on' in some gullies and ravines, trapping any gasses and gassing any critters

[Atman]

9. Knowing this admin, it means they'll deny it for fear of losing money.

If tourists think it could blow at any minute they'll stay away. BushCo would much rather sacrifice a few hundred tourists rather than a few million dollars.

.

[John Q. Citizen]

20. If it blows, the tourist better be in Europe or farther. It will take out six or seven whole states,

and then we will plunged into 10 or 15 years of year round winter from the ash particles in the air.

A super volcano isn't a localized event. If and when it blows, that is.

[nadinbrzezinski]

28. Most folks do not understand how seroous this would be

that is why I said combining tabasco the tsunami and katrina, would be a walk in the damn park

[seriousstan]

34. A few hundred? Google is your friend. It will give you an appreciation of scale here.

If you think this would only affect visitors to the park, you need to educate yourself.

[Atman]

44. Obviously I didn't Google it. But I have some visual aids...

I hadn't heard this before, although it's obviously been pretty well known by scientists for years. The funny thing is, I initially had typed in "tens of thousands of people" but I figured some DUers would jump all over me for being hysterical. I guess not. But is also looks as if there is no way of know when this will blow, and nothing we can do about it anyways.

I do have a visual, though, of what it might look like to the Bush Family from their place of exile on the moon base W wants to build...



.

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. That it could blow tomorrow or in 10K years

a second in geologic time

The last time any of these supervolcanoes went off, we had a nice ice age

Hey... on the bright side the planet will see a cool down

But the Continental US will be devastated... making Katrina and Tabasco and the Tsunami combined look like a walk in the
damn park

[BrotherBuzz]

26. It goes up and down

"Since … about 14,000 years ago, the Yellowstone caldera has inflated and deflated about six to eight times without a volcanic eruption,"

[BadgerLaw2010]

47. If it blows, we all die. End of global civilization too, probably.

Not really worth worrying about, since there is literally nothing you can do.

[Dora]

54. I doubt it will mean an end to global civilization.

But it would certainly mean an end to life as we know it in these United States.

[BadgerLaw2010]

56. Enormous drop in global temperature + US covered in ash = no crops.

That's what causes the global damage. People gotta eat.

[Renew Deal]

58. They should go to Checkers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnRjGaW9hwg

[Renew Deal]

57. Can't we nuke it?

That's the answer for everything these days.

[roguevalley]

76. if it blows, our country will never recover. it would be catastrophic

beyond words to describe

[mihalevich]

3. it blows about every 650 thousand years

Last time it went, it covered Nebraska with 7 feet of ash... that was 650 thousand years ago...

[Spazito]

4. I watched that movie on Discovery Channel entitled "Supervolcano" and

it fascinated me enough to do some research on the Yellowstone caldera, it was very educational.

[ironflange]

30. Scary movie

Really well done, too, it sure showed the helplessness and desperation felt by all.

[Spazito]

46. I agree, I quite liked it....

Until that movie, I had absolutely no knowledge of the caldera in Yellowstone. I had always assumed any volcanic activity in Yellowstone would be within the realm of "normal", at worst a Mt. St. Helen. After watching the movie and doing some further research, I no longer believe that of course.

[lovuian]

5. the article is vague but indicating the Caldera has risen

three times faster than ever measured

One to watch

[aquart]

36. And the Bush appointees say there's nothing to worry about?

[Virginia Dare]

60. For once, they're right..

not much point in worrying about something you can't do a whole lot about.

[lonestarnot]

10. Why so fast now?

[Selatius]

17. It erupts on a 600,000 year cycles, and it's about due for another eruption.

It could erupt between now and several thousand years into the future. In human terms, it's a gigantic window of time, but in geologic terms, the time is about to run out.

[havocmom]

33. If I post that the cloud of ash is up... believe it

I am in the path of the likely plume. I'll post if it blows and I have time ;)

[nadinbrzezinski]

35. If you have time

if you are close enough the speed of winds aproach hurricane wind speeds...

Like being in the middle of a nuclear explosion without the radiation

What they have calculated it to what a thousand nukes?

Boggles the mind

Take care

[havocmom]

52. Am a few hours away (by car) so should have about 10 minutes or better warning, IF I hear it's comin

Evidence here is: ancient trees were felled and some even buried in ash before fires started. Shock wave will be a killer, when it hits, but it will take a few minutes, I'm guessing.

I just hope I have time to get to the guns, as suffocating under hot ash is not how I want me and my critters to die.

[nadinbrzezinski]

74. Trust me I understand

I live out of the prevailing winds, so we will have fun with the post disaster crisis

;-(

[lonestarnot]

42. Oh boy. Post before you run for your life!

OMG what a thought.

[BadgerLaw2010]

49. "Due" is an exaggeration, there's too few events. But it is possible.

[havocmom]

53. DUer much closer to the blow hole than I said not to worry, until we see a LOT of geologists

heading into the Yellowstone, then RUSHING back out.

He be quite the card. Accurate, but a card.

[Spazito]

68. LOL, very true! n/t

[mike_c]

11. a-heh, a-heh-- you said "swollen...."

I got yer super volcano....

[Swamp Rat]

15. Don't bogart dude

:D :smoke:

[mike_c]

18. best suggestion I've heard all night....

:smoke: :hi:

[Gonzo Gardener]

24. don't be stingy...

pass that over here!

:hi:


I need something to quell the nausea after hearing about the Mukasey vote.

[Lautremont]

12. Maybe a giant mass of lava will spew straight up for dozens of miles

and fall down to earth to completely cover Idaho.

[havocmom]

32. More likely: It will blow mostly east and cover me.

Hit what is now Nebraska with a shit load of ash last time. My area shows lots of ash heaps and blown down trees, long turned to stone, covered and now being uncovered via erosion.

[opihimoimoi]

14. Mayan Calendar ends 2012 or so I've been led to believe

[nadinbrzezinski]

19. Two interpretations actually

the long count and the short count do end on December of 2012... that is also the year we cross the galactic equator.

Interpretation number one is that this the end of human history...

Interpretation number two is that this cycle, lasting what 26K years, is over, and a new one starts

And if Yellowstone goes off... trust me... it will be a before volcano event and after volcano event

[opihimoimoi]

22. I am of the feeling that such an event will most llikely trigger a desruption so great as to cause

a Mega Famine...to the point of many billions of humans perishing...the catch up time to where we at currently will be long, if we fully recover.....

[nadinbrzezinski]

23. absolutely

and the survivors wil refer to it as BY and AY

[opihimoimoi]

25. Another "AUG 6, 2001 Warning" ignored by them Republicans ehh? Das whot I see...

[nadinbrzezinski]

27. Not really

there is very little they could do (and all is theoretical) to release the pressure and prevent it

And those are scientific thingies anyhow... I mean science EEEEWWWW

[Marrah_G]

39. There isn't anything they could do anyway

Unless you want to evacuate the continent for a few hundred thousand years...just to be safe. But then again you aren't 100% safe anywhere.... nature is a bitch like that.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

81. The galactic equator?

Where are you getting that jazz?

[Beelzebud]

65. So what? My calander ends on December 31, 2007. We're DOOMED!

[ArbustoBuster]

73. It doesn't end, it just goes up another number.

The Maya long calendar date for December 21, 2012 is 13.0.0.0.0. In our terms this is like the calendar is going from 9999 to 10,000.

From Wikipedia, which references Schele, Linda; David Freidel (1990). A Forest of Kings: The Untold Story of the Ancient Maya. HarperCollins, p. 82. ISBN 0-688-11204-8: "Maya stela occasionally show dates beyond 2012. Most of these are in the form of 'distance dates', where a Long Count date is given with a distance date to be added. For example, on Tablet of Inscriptions from Palenque we find the following Long Count date: 9.8.9.13.0 8 Ahau 13 Pop (24th March 603 AD Gregorian) with a distance date of 10.11.10.5.8. The resulting date is given as 1.0.0.0.0.8 5 Lamat 1 Mol, or 21st October 4772 AD – almost 3,000 years into the future. The king Pacal of Palenque predicted that on this date the eightieth Calendar Round anniversary of his accession will be celebrated, suggesting he did not believe the world would end in 2012."

So some Maya didn't believe the world would end on that date either. In fact, they didn't believe their culture would end either, since King Pacal expected that his accession to the throne would still be celebrated in 4772 AD.

[bighart]

77. so

[MonkeyFunk]

16. That's gonna a big boom when it blows. I hope it's not

or a few more years.

[alfredo]

21. A Yellowstone webcam. Old Faithful.

Of course if it is night, you won't see anything.

http://www.nps.gov/archive/yell/oldfaithfulcam.htm

[Quixote1818]

29. New Mexico has a Supervolcano that is expected to become active again

VALLES CALDERA, NEW MEXICO
By Larry O'Hanlon
small text
large text
There is a sleeping monster in the heart of New Mexico.

The 175-square-mile Valles caldera forms a large pock in the middle of northern New Mexico, west of Santa Fe. It last exploded 1.2 million and 1.6 million years ago, piling up 150 cubic miles of rock and blasting ash as far away as Iowa. That's equivalent to roughly 2,000 Mount St. Helens eruptions.

Around the fractured ring of Valles caldera, lava flows from after the major eruptions built up mountains and left obsidian flows as recently as 60,000 years ago. As with other calderas, there are still signs of heat below: hot springs are still active around Valles.

Geologists suspect the cause of Valles caldera has something to do with how the western United States' portion of the North American tectonic plate is being pulled apart.

http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/supervolcano/others/others_05.html


http://www.vallescaldera.gov/comevisit/fish/index.aspx

Why New Mexico Is the "Volcano State"

It seems that each of the Southwestern states has an apparent geologic specialty. If so, and Arizona is the big Canyon state, Utah is the Mesozoic fauna state, and Colorado is the big snow-capped Rocky Mountains state, then what is New Mexico? New Mexicans need only look out their windows for the answer: New Mexico is the Volcano state. New Mexico has one of the greatest concentrations of young, well-exposed, and uneroded volcanoes on the continent. And as a bonus, it is also the Rift Valley state; it has one of only four or five big continental rifts in the world, East Africa being one of the other ones. The fact is, New Mexico is one of the best places to study the natural history of volcanoes.

Here are just a few facts to consider:

* Twenty percent of the U. S. National Parks and Monuments based on volcanic themes are in New Mexico. There are more here than Arizona, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington combined.

* The type example and one of the largest young calderas in the world (Valles Caldera) is in New Mexico. Yellowstone is a caldera, but it is a less visually obvious example of this type of volcanic landform.

* Two of the largest young basaltic lava flows in the world (Carrizozo and McCartys) are in New Mexico. Some of the geological terms for surface features on lava flows were first defined here in New Mexico, not Hawaii.

* One of the greatest concentrations of young volcanic steam explosion craters (referred to as "maars" by geologists), occur in New Mexico. Zuni Salt Lake Crater and Kilbourne Hole Crater are two maars in New Mexico often used as type examples in textbooks. The remains of maars literally fill White Rock Canyon and they pepper the surfaces of many of the other volcanic fields, like the Mount Taylor and Potrillo fields. They are more abundant, better preserved, and more diversely exposed than those in the type area (Eifel district of Germany). European geologists come here to learn about maars.

* Several of the largest concentrations of young cinder cones (exemplified by the Raton-Clayton, Zuni-Bandera, and Potrillo fields for starters) are in New Mexico.

* The greatest concentration and best-exposed examples of young volcanic necks in the world are in New Mexico (Rio Puerco Valley).

* The greatest diversity of young volcanic rock types and classic suites of volcanic rocks (for example, the Mount Taylor and the Raton-Clayton volcanic fields) occur in New Mexico.

* The Datil-Mogollon region of New Mexico is one of the largest concentrations of resurgent calderas. These are more eroded than the Valles Caldera, but they are in the same state of exposure as the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, another collection of mid-Tertiary resurgent calderas. You would have to go to the Sierra Madre of Mexico, the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes in Alaska, or even Armenia to see something similar.

Volcanism in New Mexico is not "extinct," but is dormant. The record of volcanism in New Mexico is continuous over tens of millions of years, and there is no reason to think it stopped magically 3000 years ago with the eruption of several cubic kilometers of basalt (McCartys lava flow, El Malpais). New Mexico has one of only three large mid-crustal active magma bodies (Socorro) in the continent. (The others are Long Valley, California and Yellowstone, Wyoming.) The Socorro area is one of the few areas where there is a dearth of young volcanoes, so perhaps the Rift is working on filling out its volcano landscaping.

More at link:

http://www.nmnaturalhistory.org/sci_volcanoes.html

[lurky]

31. I was at Lake Atitlan in Guatemala a few years ago.

It's beautiful, the water-filled crater of a supervolcano, surrounded by a ring of "regular" volcanoes.

It's deadly, though: If I remember correctly, it destroyed all life within a 1000-mile radius the last time it blew, some 80,000 years ago.

Here's a pic:


On Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Atitlan

[Quixote1818]

84. 80,000 years ago is not that long

Are those the resurgence domes across the lake?

The Jemez Caldera was also filled with a large lake for thousands of years.

[theHandpuppet]

38. Some bookmarks for caldera watchers

Volcano Monitoring at Yellowstone National Park
http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/yvo/monitoring.html

Tracking recent earthquakes within the caldera:
http://www.seis.utah.edu/req2webdir/recenteqs/Maps/Yellowstone.html

More Yellowstone seismicity maps:
http://www.quake.utah.edu/EQCENTER/LISTINGS/OTHER/yellowmaps.htm

[cali]

40. The Yellowstone Caldera and others are fascinating, but not

something to worry about. Like the possible Tsunami that could occur out of the Canary Islands or any other major natural disaster. It'll either happen or it won't. Nothing we can do about it.

[SpiralHawk]

41. BIG ceremonial doings a couple of years back to address this

Massive Medicine Wheel --



It may spin again.

"The Earth is drastically out of balance now," Bennie LeBeau says. "This Medicine Wheel ceremony will strive to re-set the basic tone -- or vibrational pattern -- of the West, and by extension help to re-attune the whole of the earth."

http://www.chiron-communications.com/communique%209-2.html

[semillama]

43. Good luck with that.

But the geology of the area probably won't notice much.

Interesting that one of the hub points was on Mount Rainier, itself a dormant volcano of high concern.

[orleans]

45. too bad we can't tap into it to release some of the pressure and gas

and transform it into energy uses

with all the fucking money we spend on warfare, can't we come up with some material that could withstand the heat?

[originalpckelly]

50. Why Mr. Yellowstone, is that magma or are you just happy to see me?

:P

[Xenotime]

51. Is this due to global warming?

[mopinko]

61. no

although i contend that at some point the laws of physics dictate greater tectonic activity if global temperatures increase greatly, it is an order of magnitude of .000001% or something. (made that number up) but a degree or 2 compared to the thousands of degrees under that caldera is quite insignificant.

[Xenotime]

62. thanks.

[GoneOffShore]

55. Yellowstone will also make Krakatoa look like a sneeze

And it was bigger than Mt. St. Helen.
I remember reading about Krakatoa back in the 1960's.
Here's an account of the eruption, some eyewitness accounts and the aftermath.

http://www.geology.sdsu.edu/how_volcanoes_work/Krakatau.html

[Elidor]

78. Anak Krakatou erupted today

Indonesia (AP) - Sending a boom across the bay, the offspring of the fabled Krakatau volcano unleashes another mighty eruption, blasting smoke and red-hot rocks hundreds of feet into the sky.

Even on its quiet side, the black sand on the now-forbidden island is so hot that a visitor can only briefly set foot on it.

This week's display by Anak Krakatau — or "Child of Krakatau" — is impressive, yet it is a mere sneeze when compared to the blast in August 1883 that obliterated its "father" in the most powerful explosion in recorded history.

http://news.ewoss.com/articles/D8SQ26S00.aspx

[Quixote1818]

63. Someone needs to make a movie about a Supervolcano exploding

Sounds like my type of movie.

[Atman]

64. I've already done the poster art...see post #44 (nt)

.

[Strelnikov_]

67. Already done. 'Supervolcano' from Discovery Channel

Not a half bad movie.

http://imdb.com/title/tt0419372/


But, like 'The Day After', soft sells the die off aspect and does not address possible societal collapse (which IMHO would be a near certainty).


Discovery Channel web site, although is not clear if it is addressing the movie on this page.

http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/supervolcano/supervolcano.html

[NorthernSpy]

66. life on the hellmouth...

:scared:

[LibertyLover]

69. Child of Krakatoa volcano is erupting in Indonesia

Just found this on AOL's home page. I had heard that 3 volcanos in Indonesia were showing signs of erupting and this one finally did.

http://news.aol.com/story/_a/indonesian-volcano-roars-to-life/20071109094609990001

[Evoman]

70. Lol...I find the posts about "the administration isn't doing anything" hilarious.

This is big folks.....this is end of civilization as we know it big. First of all, if this thing went off, almost every living thing in North America (with the exception of maybe the very southern parts) would be killed or injured within days by either the blast or the burning ash. Most of Canada..also gone. The earthquakes and ashes would leave nothing of the United States or Canada functioning. One the soot and ashe blows into the upper atmosphere, people all over the world will start dying. Billions will be dead.

But no worries. It isn't going to happen in your lifetime. We're talking geological time. At the present rate, we should be dead thousands of years before this happens anyways. And there is absolutely NOTHING we can do about it. It's like a meteor coming to Earth...people think that some nuke or something (as if we have the techonology) would do something, but it wouldn't. Might as well try to find a nice place to die if this volcano goes off.

[nadinbrzezinski]

75. Yes, this is quite possibly an extinction level event

to use the scientific language

[bvar22]

71. The Southern Hemisphere may survive this.

Prevailing winds do not cross the equator.
Of course, an eruption this large would disrupt "normal" weather patterns.
But if you are really worried, move South.......way South.

[porphyrian]

72. They should vent it before it explodes.

Make the oil industry donate the drilling equipment to sacrifice (it would be trashed as soon as it hit magma, I'm pretty sure) since they've been making record profits while we pay record prices at the pumps, and control where the thing blows out rather than wait to find out what gives randomly.

[FiveGoodMen]

79. The TV special included speculation that venting is exactly what sets it off!

[NeedleCast]

80. Neat

The Official List of Things Needlecast worries about:

#1 Forgetting mom's birthday.
#2 Bush
#3 Spiders
.
.
.
#657 Getting struck by lightining.
.
.
.
#1,784,210 Super-Volcanos

[FiveGoodMen]

82. You must have a SCARY mom considering the order of the first two items!

[NeedleCast]

83. It's not so much the scary

it's the crying. Talk about your heaps and heaps of guilt.

Forgot last year. Dad called me the day after and says "son, your mom has been crying all day because you forgot her birthday." Ouch. I have significantly upgraded my reminder processes since then.

[FiveGoodMen]

85. Not a scary mom but a scary situation. Got it!

Guilt and crying really do suck!

[backscatter712]

86. I'm not going to worry about it.

When geologists say "Yellowstone caldera eruption imminent," they mean that it'll likely blow its lid sometime in the next 100,000 years.

In other words, it's not going to happen in our lifetimes.

If it did happen, we'd all be completely screwed anyways. The blast alone from the Yellowstone Caldera exploding would knock down buildings and trees all the way to Colorado. The cloud of ash and toxic gasses will rain down on most of the continental U.S., and if you're not in a hermetically sealed room, the ash will build up in your lungs, turn into cement, and most likely kill you. What ash that doesn't immediately rain down will go high up in the stratosphere and stay there for years, causing a global cooling period for years, like a nuclear winter. I'd say that between the immediate effects, and the starvation caused by the nuclear winter, billions would die.

So if it was clear this actually was going to happen soon, I'd just get in my car, drive to Yellowstone, and get as close as I can, in hopes of being vaporized instantly in the blast rather than enduring the hell afterwards.

But like I said, this'll probably happen sometime in the next 100,000 years.

[applegrove]

87. If that blows...or Toba...we all die.

[SoCalDem]

88. All I know is that when it finally blows

some of those states are gonna disappear completely.. :(

[jayfish]

89. Ha, Ha... That's Funny.

"But that doesn't mean Yellowstone is about to go the way of Mount St. Helens."

Mt. St. Helens? If the Yellowstone Caldera goes it would make Mt. St. Helens look like a school science project. It would be the greatest disaster in modern human history.

Jay