Posted on 11/08/2007 1:47:04 PM PST by blam
Magma surge causes record rise at Yellowstone
19:00 08 November 2007
NewScientist.com news service
Catherine Brahic
The remains of the Yellowstone supervolcano in the US is huffing and puffing and rising by up to 7 centimetres a year, say researchers. They speculate this rise is caused by a mass of molten rock the size of Los Angeles being forced from the Earth’s mantle into the magma chamber beneath the ancient volcano.
But the researchers, led by Wu-Lung Chang of the University of Utah in the US, caution that the movement does not mean an explosion is imminent. Calderas – the massive craters that are left behind when a volcano collapses – all over the world go up and down over decades.
The Yellowstone caldera was formed during the huge volcano's last massive eruption 642,000 years ago, which released enough ash to cover half of the US with tens of centimetres of ash. As the magma chamber was emptied out during the eruption, the volcano collapsed, creating the massive crater.
The area remains North America's largest volcanic field, fuelled by a gigantic plume of hot, molten rock which begins at least 400 miles beneath the surface. Blobs of magma occasionally break off and bubble up, resupplying the Caldera's magma chamber. The heat generated by this chamber powers Yellowstone's famous geysers.
Fastest rate From mid-2004 to late 2006, Chang and colleagues measured deformations at the surface of the caldera using GPS stations and radar measurements made from the European satellite Envisat.
Earlier in 2007, another team used similar measurements to detect bulges in the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii, which has helped them determine where the next eruption of the volcano is likely to happen.
(Excerpt) Read more at environment.newscientist.com ...
what is a carbon credit?
Geothermal energy is endlessly replenish-able.
Much of the electricity in the US is produced by coal burning steam turbines...
All that heat..no pollution and no product....
It’s the enviroweenies that are actually the pi$$poor stewards of the earth.
ping - It is vacation time!!!!
My brother lived in Albuquerque. When he lived there, I told him “don’t worry, the Jemez mountains aren’t likely to blow up soon. And if they do blow up, it won’t happen until the last five minutes of your life.”
Want to hear the ultimate terror story? The sun will eventually go nova and completely wipe out the earth, not to mention the rest of our solar system.
This won't happen for about 4 billion years yet but we can't start getting ready too soon. I say we build enough ships to hold all the people of the earth and start loading them up and firing them off to Mars to start colonies, we can pay for it with a 100 percent income tax on the rich(anyone who makes over $1000 per year would fall in the category). Great plan huh? Just hand over all your money and all your freedom and I will save you from any and all disasters. I am the ultimate liberal, trust me!/SAR
When this sucker blows again, and it evetually will.. it will indeed be incredibly nasty and ugly.... There hasn’t been a Caldera eruption in recorded history.
Bush’s fault!
That definitely does not sound good.
Remember that "brief" in geologic time can be quite long to a human.
I am not sure the danger is to the far west, but rather in general to the east of Yellowstone if that is the way the prevailing wind is blowing. When Mt. St. Helens blew, aside from the surrounding 15 or 20 miles most of the ash fall was east of the mountain.
Yellowstone has had 3 major blowouts over the past 2 million years. The most recent one was not the worst. Does anyone know whether the most recent Yellowstone or Toba was worse? Toba left a caldera about 18 by 65 miles. I seem to recall that Yellowstone’s most recent may be about 30 by 50 miles.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.