Posted on 08/11/2008 9:30:34 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
How hot is the Yellowstone hotspot? At 80 kilometres beneath the Earth's surface it's about 1450° C, say researchers -- which, for a supervolcano, is only lukewarm.
That doesn't mean we won't get another eruption. The last explosion, some 642,000 years ago, created the Yellowstone caldera and blanketed half of the present day US in ash.
But Derek Schutt of Colorado State University believes the relatively tepid temperature means the supervolcano could be on its last legs...
The team determined that the temperature at [80 km depth] was likely to be between 50° C and 200° C hotter than the surrounding rock -- at least 1450° C...
This adds to suggestions that the plume has disconnected from its heat source in the Earth's core. If this is true, it means the plume could be dying -- and that the sequence of mega-eruptions could come to an end.
(Excerpt) Read more at environment.newscientist.com ...
Toba; toba; toba!
Bringing in the sheep, bringing in the sheep,
We shall come in our tobas, bringing in the sheep,
Bringing in the sheep, bringing in the sheep,
We shall in our tobas, bringing in the sheep!
Is Old Faithful, still?
Maybe just a little south into Nevada, this one had a epicenter depth of 0.00 km. It’s the red bullseye in the center of a ring of quake activity covering several states.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/Maps/US10/37.47.-120.-110.php
I recall reading that Old Faithful’s once-an-hour blast wound up with and altered interval after an earthquake. Probably have to resort to wiki-wacky-pedia.
:-))
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