Posted on 04/02/2005 6:31:22 PM PST by AntiGuv
SYDNEY (AFP) - As Indonesians struggled to recover from the second deadly earthquake to strike them in three months, an Australian expert warned the country faced the prospect of a "super volcano" eruption that would dwarf all previous catastrophes.
Professor Ray Cas of Monash University's School of Geosciences said the world's biggest super volcano was Lake Toba, on Indonesia's island of Sumatra, site of both the recent massive earthquakes.
Cas told Australian media Friday that Toba sits on a faultline running down the middle of Sumatra -- just where some seismologists say a third earthquake might strike following the 9.0 magnitude quake on December 26 and Monday's 8.7 temblor.
Those quakes occurred along faultlines running just off Sumatra's west coast and created seismological stresses which could hasten an eruption.
Cas said Toba last erupted 73,000 years ago in an event so massive that it altered the entire world's climate.
"The eruption released 1,000 cubic kilometers (240 cubic miles) of ash and rock debris into the atmosphere, much of it as fine ash which blocked out solar radiation, kicking the world back into an ice age," he said.
The scientist said super volcanos represented the greatest potential hazard on earth, "the only greater threat being an asteroid impact from space".
"A super volcano will definitely erupt," he said.
"It could be in a few, 50 or another 1000 years but sooner or later one is going to go off."
Other super volcanos are found in Italy, South America, the United States and New Zealand -- where Mount Taupo could be ready for eruption.
"It has a big eruption every 2,000 years, and it last erupted about 2,000 years ago," Cas said.
The potential death toll from a super volcano eruption "could reach the hundreds of thousands to millions and there are serious implications on climate, weather and viability of food production," Cas said.
"The big problem is a lot of the volcanoes that potentially could erupt are perhaps not monitored to the degree that they should be, and of course we learnt that lesson from the Boxing Day tsunami disaster," he said.
All of the others are legitimate, I'm curious about exactly how many (recently active) ones there are myself, but while they have been much discussed there's no actual listing, yet. And people can't agree on how big something has to be to be a supervolcano.
Speak for yourself.
Good plan. Mormons, as part of their theology, prepare for widespread disasters and famine.
"Cas said Toba last erupted 73,000 years ago in an event so massive that it altered the entire world's climate."
So much for global warming!
Yeah, but when Toba blew, it was 10,000 times the size of the Krakatoa eruption.
And if the Yellowstone caldera goes up, it will be at least an order of magnitude larger than that. But, that hasn't kept me away from either the Yellowstone or the Toba calderas and both are among the most beautiful places on Earth.
Visit them while they are still there!
I would imagine that most of the so called civilized world is only a few missed meals away from Anarchy.
Most of it, sure.
Some of us "nutballs" have been expecting revolution/famine/disaster for some time.
I live in a rural area 45 miles from a major city, in the hills, in an non- flood/earthquake/volcanism area.
If my family survives the initial upheaval (whatever it is) we will live. From food to shelter to protection, the smart policy is the Boy Scout motto: Be Prepared.
Thanks for the info! Hadn't occurred to me anyone would be motivated to make up a supervolcano..
Touche! ;>)
Thanks for the ping.
Same source:
"Super volcano" could dwarf Indonesia's earthquake catastrophes: expert
Yahoo News | 4/1/05 | AFP
Posted on 04/01/2005 3:01:49 PM PST by DannyTN
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1375768/posts
Related topics:
Super Volcano Will Challenge Civilization, Geologists Warn
SPACE.com | March 8, 2005 | Robert Roy Britt
Posted on 03/08/2005 4:16:02 AM PST by AntiGuv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1358314/posts
Scientists: Volcano Could Swamp U.S. with Mega-Tsunami
China Daily | 3/29/2005 | Staff Writers
Posted on 03/29/2005 3:41:11 PM PST by ex-Texan
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1373403/posts
When Humans Faced Extinction
BBC | 6-10-2003 | Dr David Whitehouse
Posted on 06/10/2003 8:05:32 AM PDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/926315/posts
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
I mean, just last night, they re-ran nbc's craptacular from last year. DID YOU KNOW you can drill holes thru "layers of solid bedrock" (so, like, what's in-between them? marshmallow filling?) with humongo-sized drills in practically NO time at all to emplace "nucular bombs" [sic] (and kill Fred Willard at the same time. Yay! He's been deserving it since' Termors') to make an earthquake even BIGGER - enough to (finally) make an island out of California (and kill millions of Californians at the same time)?
HUH? The very action of an earthquake relieves stresses - or, are these Froggies just smarter than everyone else?
This description pretty much covers every production staged by the Discovery channel the past few years. I've come to avoid Discovery in favor of other outlets like the History Channel due primarily to the huge liberties Discovery takes with facts in order to advance their own liberal views and theories. Even my 14 year old son picks them apart for direct "statements of fact" they regularly make in the various dramatizations which are backed up by absolutely nothing and should have been more accurately described as only theories that a few people believe and many others do not.
On second thought, you may have something there...
Dang! Too hot, no..too cool!! Which is it? An ice age in the middle of global warming? How will you know what to wear each day??!!
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