Posted on 12/13/2013 6:20:25 PM PST by TroutGuy
The supervolcano that lies beneath Yellowstone National Park in the US is far larger than was previously thought, scientists report.
A study shows that the magma chamber is about 2.5 times bigger than earlier estimates suggested.
A team found the cavern stretches for more than 90km (55 miles) and contains 200-600 cubic km of molten rock.
The findings are being presented at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in San Francisco.
Prof Bob Smith, from the University of Utah, said: “We’ve been working there for a long time, and we’ve always thought it would be bigger... but this finding is astounding."
If the Yellowstone supervolcano were to blow today, the consequences would be catastrophic.
The last major eruption, which occurred 640,000 years ago, sent ash across the whole of North America, affecting the planet’s climate.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
http://www.komonews.com/news/national/Swarm-of-earthquakes-shakes-Yellowstone-224773612.html
Not many noticed since the park was closed for the shutdowns. Some Yellowstone conspiracy types even suggested the shutdown was a coverup for the swarm, which I thought was pretty funny. :)
That’s a lot of gas buildup.
“That’s a lot of gas buildup.”
Just drop the world’s biggest TUMS down there and we should be fine. :)
NOW they’ll get their gorebull warming
WE ARE ALL GONNA DIE!!
I say we take off and nuke it from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.
“That’s a lot of gas buildup.”
Just drop the world’s biggest TUMS down there and we should be fine. :)
OMG! We are gonna die even more than we were gonna die before!
I’m sorry but your super volcano does not have permission to erupt. It would kill all of the grizzlies and they are a protected species under Federal law.
We can fix this, we need to drill multiple deep “wells” to harvest geothermal energy and harvest the excess heat energy and gas wells to relieve the excess pressure.
Below: yellow circles are the previous locations.
If you like your pyroclastic cloud, you can keep your pyroclastic cloud.
http://www.erh.noaa.gov/car/Newsletter/htm_format_articles/climate_corner/yearwithoutsummer_lf.htm
More like Decade without Summer if Yellowstone blows!
Driving from West Yellowstone down the Snake River Valley makes the thing seem really large.
That is just the initial burp!
Surely, surely the PhD, 6-figure superheros as the EPA can put their collective heads together to solve this...I figure if 1000 Priuses drive around the volcano for 10 hrs straight, and utter, “Ummmmm” and spin around some crystals and vibrating rocks and smoke some weed, the volcano will listen to their pleas.
Apology for inserting something irrelevant, but reading about the earthquakes and Prof Bob Smith’s name made me free associate to the Freeper Wobbly Bob, but looking him up reveals we haven’t heard from him for almost two years. I miss him, as I do other Freepers who suddenly drop from the forum without a trace, I hope he is doing well.
It’s unlikely we will see a super-eruption in our lifetimes, but there has been increased seismic activity in the park in recent years, starting with a large swarm in January 2009.
That suggests that we may well see some very scary event like a hydrothermal explosion or even a smaller eruption in our lifetimes.
There’s a lot of scary stuff that can happen at Yellowstone short of a super-eruption. I follow this fairly closely since it will be my rear end if it goes off, and the September swarm definitely got my attention.
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