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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.
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??!!
240 square kilometers may be big but it will be dwarfed by the next eruption of the Yellowstone cauldera.
Uh-oh. I just emptied our pantry for a cub scout food drive. It doesn't matter, though. I'd rather die than have to eat those Lima beans.
The last super volcano occurred before man invented either of those religions.
Either?
Probably "both" have been a better choice than "either."
there are a number of supervolcanoes around the globe, and all of them seem to be active in some way or another. but what we should be worrying about is mega tsunamis. they are caused by landslides on volcanic islands.
This is just something else for liberals/socialists to use to rally supporters.
They've already got doom and gloom from the great global warming hoax.
We live on the earth and things will always happen. If we worry about everything, then we won't enjoy the life we have; and life is too short.
There is no such thing as life without risk, so don't sweat the stuff you can't control, and don't expect to control something that mother nature has been dealing with for eternity.
Note the date...
I share the same concern as you and I'm totally serious. Within a five mile radius of my house are at least 12 large, sprawling cemeteries. I'm not even counting the puny "town graveyards" that you find near Town Hall or the small church graveyards. I'm talking graveyards that are so large that they have access roads going through them.
This is a very serious concern for me. Million of acres of prime real estate are already occupied by cemeteries in this country alone. I think this is wrong. Our land should be for the living, not the dead.
Cremation is one option but many people (including myself) are squeamish about having our bodies cremated after we shed our mortal coil. For me, it conjures up images of hell.
I think there should be another option, and that is, to allow our bodies to decompose in a "mulching pile" and then be used as fertilizer. Now I'm not sure it is an appetizing prospect for the rest of us to ingest food that was fertilized by the bodies of our loved ones - either directly or indirectly (by way of cattle grazing).
So what I propose is that our decomposing bodies be used to fertilize golf courses. In this manner, our bodies can provide enjoyment for others as they walk across the lush, green grasses of a local golf course without having to endure the prospect of having to eat us.
When I die, I don't want to be buried in a pine box and take up valuable real estate space in some spooky cemetery. Instead, allow me to decompose on my local golf course.
Well, so much for global warming...LOL
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