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Super Volcanoes-Will Yellowstone be next?
Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2005 4:24 pm
by JTD
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/19 ... noes.shtml:
The last supervolcano to erupt was Toba 74,000 years ago in Sumatra. Ten thousand times bigger than Mt St Helens, it created a global catastrophe dramatically affecting life on Earth. Scientists know that another one is due - they just don't know when... or where.
It is little known that lying underneath one of America's areas of outstanding natural beauty - Yellowstone Park - is one of the largest supervolcanoes in the world. Scientists have revealed that it has been on a regular eruption cycle of 600,000 years. The last eruption was 640,000 years ago... so the next is overdue.
And the sleeping giant is breathing: 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 centimetres this century. Is this just the harmless movement of lava, flowing from one part of the reservoir to another? Or does it presage something much more sinister, a pressurised build-up of molten lava?
Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2005 4:46 pm
by Astro_man92
Re: Super Volcanoes-Will Yellowstone be next?
Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2005 5:18 pm
by HurryKane
jason0509 wrote:http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/1999/supervolcanoes.shtml:
The last supervolcano to erupt was Toba 74,000 years ago in Sumatra. Ten thousand times bigger than Mt St Helens, it created a global catastrophe dramatically affecting life on Earth. Scientists know that another one is due - they just don't know when... or where.
It is little known that lying underneath one of America's areas of outstanding natural beauty - Yellowstone Park - is one of the largest supervolcanoes in the world. Scientists have revealed that it has been on a regular eruption cycle of 600,000 years. The last eruption was 640,000 years ago... so the next is overdue.
And the sleeping giant is breathing: 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 centimetres this century. Is this just the harmless movement of lava, flowing from one part of the reservoir to another? Or does it presage something much more sinister, a pressurised build-up of molten lava?
If I recall correctly from a documentary on this that was shown on the Discovery channel a while back, many scientists feel that only having three eruptions and two measurable time periods between them is not enough information to say that there is a regular eruption schedule. Saying we are overdue is possibly bad math.
Also, I believe they said the earth's crust is moving in such a way that a thicker part of Yellowstone is headed towards the underground magma, also indicating that an eruption is probably not imminent.
Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2005 5:19 pm
by JTD
Oh I knew about it but I stumbled across it this afternoon and thought I'd post it for you all.
It's every 600,000 years. Thankfully it's not every 180,000 years. LOL
Re: Super Volcanoes-Will Yellowstone be next?
Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2005 5:21 pm
by JTD
HurryKane wrote:jason0509 wrote:http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/1999/supervolcanoes.shtml:
The last supervolcano to erupt was Toba 74,000 years ago in Sumatra. Ten thousand times bigger than Mt St Helens, it created a global catastrophe dramatically affecting life on Earth. Scientists know that another one is due - they just don't know when... or where.
It is little known that lying underneath one of America's areas of outstanding natural beauty - Yellowstone Park - is one of the largest supervolcanoes in the world. Scientists have revealed that it has been on a regular eruption cycle of 600,000 years. The last eruption was 640,000 years ago... so the next is overdue.
And the sleeping giant is breathing: 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 centimetres this century. Is this just the harmless movement of lava, flowing from one part of the reservoir to another? Or does it presage something much more sinister, a pressurised build-up of molten lava?
If I recall correctly from a documentary on this that was shown on the Discovery channel a while back, many scientists feel that only having three eruptions and two measurable time periods between them is not enough information to say that there is a regular eruption schedule. Saying we are overdue is possibly bad math.
Also, I believe they said the earth's crust is moving in such a way that a thicker part of Yellowstone is headed towards the underground magma, also indicating that an eruption is probably not imminent.
oh yeah I don't think an eruption is imminent at all. There's no earthquake activity, nothing unusual. My point was just that there is tremendous potential for calamity should this ever happen (not to mention I'd probably be dead!)
Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2005 5:27 pm
by Astro_man92
jason0509 wrote:Oh I knew about it but I stumbled across it this afternoon and thought I'd post it for you all.
It's every 600,000 years. Thankfully it's not every 180,000 years. LOL
sorry about that but like I said I really haven't taken interest in it since last MAY
oh and HurryKane
I got the info that I was talking about from a documentary on National Geographic and it said that the reason why Old Fathfull is so active is because of the activity of the magma (well not really the activity but the heat) and that studies and experiments are saying that the land there is raising like 3 or 6 inches a year but that may be way off like i said I'm really rusty. and they say we are over due because it has been quite a while since the last eruption (over 600,000)
Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2005 6:40 pm
by Brent
Well... if/when Yellowstone erupts... well... it's been nice knowing all of 'ya.
They think we would escape the lava flow meaning we'd slowly freeze to death.
Not sure what's worse... lava would be quick at least.
Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2005 7:44 pm
by Astro_man92
as far as I know there is no magma just HUGE amounts of gases
Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2005 7:56 pm
by wxmann_91
The pyroclastic flows will instantly kill everyone within a some mile radius. Obviously (and hopefully) most everyone should've evacuated from that radius already.
Then the volcanic ash would kill half of people from Portland and Las Vegas east to Oklahoma City, Kansas City, and Fargo.
Many of the elderly and young and people with respiratory ailments living from Vancouver and San Diego east to Houston, Memphis, and Indianapolis would be killed by volcanic ash.
East of that, the volcanic ash would still be powerful enough to kill one out of every ten people and continue to cause widespread power outages and plane crashes (if planes were still flying).
After that, the volcanic ash thrown into the atmosphere would block the sun's rays and cause a global cooling for centuries. This would cause a reduction in crops, and throw the world into a global famine. Undoubtedly many people who will die due to a supervolcano will die due to this factor.