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Yellowstone Volcano Observatory scientists answer questions about Supervolcanoes
USGS Yellowstone Volcano Observatory ^ | March 2005

Posted on 04/10/2005 3:36:29 PM PDT by Strategerist

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To: Strategerist

would it destroy rich environmentalists' houses in jackson hole?

with any luck, yes!

would it scare their horsies?

sure. they might even gallop off without their masters and mistresses.


21 posted on 04/10/2005 6:55:16 PM PDT by ken21 (if you didn't see it on tv, then it didn't happen. /s)
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To: Strategerist
So far this movie is getting depressing LoL

I can't wait until the end of the movie and I will hear Tom Brokaw talk to the scientists (sarcasm).

22 posted on 04/10/2005 6:57:45 PM PDT by GulfWar1Vet (Freedom is worth FIGHTIN FOR!)
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To: Strategerist
...so it can't be that terrible;

Just incredibly cheesy :)

BTW, anyone catch the black-pantsuited female prez...?

23 posted on 04/10/2005 7:00:27 PM PDT by mewzilla
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To: Strategerist
"Glancing at the list it seems pretty flawed; Crater Lake's cataclysmic eruption was a VEI 7, not 8...I've never seen it classified as a supervolcano. The Australian volcano is very old and really can't be considered as potentially active. Some of the others listed were not VEI=8 eruptions either."

That's the only list I found. I don't know about it's accuracy.

24 posted on 04/10/2005 7:01:25 PM PDT by blam
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To: mewzilla

So I guess they're not worried about the whole global warming thing any more, are they?


25 posted on 04/10/2005 7:02:19 PM PDT by SlowBoat407 (Everything that I've written on it for the past two years is GONE!)
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To: blam
That's the only list I found. I don't know about it's accuracy.

The reality is that no geologist has actually sat down and made a list in a formal manner; there's a paper coming out from a couple of British guys in the Bulletin of Volcanology soon, though.

One problem is age cutoff; there are a ton of these that are essentially extinct; there are supervolcanic calderas all over Colorado, Nevada, Idaho that haven't erupted for 10 million years, have no seismic activity, and are essentially dead.

Regarding size people seem to have settled on VEI=8; Kikai, Mazama (Crater Lake) were VEI=7.

26 posted on 04/10/2005 7:05:42 PM PDT by Strategerist
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To: GulfWar1Vet

I actually look forward to that part; I think it's great you're going to see actual geologists commenting on the film.


27 posted on 04/10/2005 7:06:20 PM PDT by Strategerist
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To: SlowBoat407
So I guess they're not worried about the whole global warming thing any more, are they?

LOL! Who needs automobiles?

28 posted on 04/10/2005 7:09:12 PM PDT by mewzilla
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To: Strategerist
I think it's great you're going to see actual geologists commenting on the film.

With brown bags over their heads if they contributed to this...

29 posted on 04/10/2005 7:10:05 PM PDT by mewzilla
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To: mewzilla
These geologists will tell the truth? LoL

This should be interesting.

30 posted on 04/10/2005 7:14:50 PM PDT by GulfWar1Vet (Freedom is worth FIGHTIN FOR!)
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To: mewzilla

Umm... Is there a reason there are no gas masks available in the military facility that the guys just left?


31 posted on 04/10/2005 7:14:54 PM PDT by SlowBoat407 (Everything that I've written on it for the past two years is GONE!)
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To: Strategerist

I'm watching it now, one thing that bugs me about all of this is they keep using the Metric system and I have to translate that into the English system for Mom. Kilometers, Centigrade, meters, dang. I really don't fall into my late maternal grandmother's camp of "The Metric system was a tool of Satan and if God wanted Metric, there would be 10 Apostles" but most people only know English units. Myself, I know some Metric but I still have to convert in my mind to English to get a rough idea. Maybe it ain't a major nitpick to some but I figure I wanted to pipe up about it.


32 posted on 04/10/2005 7:20:05 PM PDT by Nowhere Man (Lutheran, Conservative, Neo-Victorian/Edwardian - Any Questions?)
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To: Jim Noble
If you flip a coin 1000 times and it comes up heads every time, the probability of heads on the 1001st flip is 0.5.

A better analogy would be a part subjected to cyclical stress greater than its fatigue limit. Picking numbers of cycles at random, a part might be unlikely to fail in the first 10 million cycles, more likely to fail by 100 million cycles, and certain to fail before 500 million cycles. The probability of failure increases as the number of cycles increases.

Or, a boiler without a definite point of relief, subjected to a source of heat. Probability of failure is low while the boiler is cold, and increases as the temperature and pressure increase.

Probabalisitic design is a cool subject. Beats "safety factor" hands down.

33 posted on 04/10/2005 7:22:41 PM PDT by Cboldt
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To: Strategerist
"I actually look forward to that part; I think it's great you're going to see actual geologists commenting on the film."

I think the movie ended to optimistically.

34 posted on 04/10/2005 7:30:43 PM PDT by blam
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To: blam
What, you wanna another Ice Age? LoL

j/k

35 posted on 04/10/2005 7:33:32 PM PDT by GulfWar1Vet (Freedom is worth FIGHTIN FOR!)
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To: blam
"I think the movie ended to optimistically."

For Example:

The Dark Ages: Were They Darker Than We Imagined?

36 posted on 04/10/2005 7:35:01 PM PDT by blam
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To: Strategerist

We're watching it right now. Was actually pretty good.


37 posted on 04/10/2005 7:36:11 PM PDT by SuziQ
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To: GulfWar1Vet
"What, you wanna another Ice Age? LoL "

Nah. I'm a catastrophist, I've read extensively on these things.

Eighteen Hundred And Froze To Death (The 'Infamous Year Without Summer)

38 posted on 04/10/2005 7:41:30 PM PDT by blam
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To: blam

Yeah, probably.

On a page related to the people doing the upcoming paper there's a very rough Excel database of large volcanic eruptions.

Actually it looks like VEI=8 is a bit of a too high standard for a lot of people regarding the supervolcano standard.....that's 1,000 cubic kilometers. Even Long Valley Caldera didn't meet that.

I'll probably come up with a list of all the ones over 100 cubic km in the last 2 million years and post it on one of the inevitable later threads. A great many of them are places you've never heard of.

There are a crapload in Italy and New Zealand, for example. Veniaminoff in Alaska hit 400 cu km 3,700 years ago (that was the one that was erupting a few weeks ago to little interest or care by FR). Atila in Mexico and Los Choyos in Guatemala had really big eruptions.


39 posted on 04/10/2005 8:01:02 PM PDT by Strategerist
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To: mewzilla
BTW, anyone catch the black-pantsuited female prez...?

I don't remember seeing the President but I did catch where they say the President is a woman. My first thought was that since this is a BBC production that they're implying it is Hillary.

40 posted on 04/10/2005 8:04:11 PM PDT by COEXERJ145 (Just Blame President Bush For Everything, It Is Easier Than Using Your Brain)
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