Super-eruptions may have Surprisingly Short Fuses

Scientific Computing ^ | 6/6/12

[null and void]

Related thread here

This thread is a little bit more technical.

[wastedyears]

That’s a really big pancake. Me likey

[onedoug]

The biological imperative associated with risk? Hmmph.

[Inyo-Mono]

There is no “Long Valley, CA.” Long Valley is just that, a valley with a few isolated homes and cattle and the Owens River, an area north of Bishop and just south of Mammoth Lakes, California. I know, I live half an hour from there.

[steve86]

provide a warning for society

What good would that do?

[null and void]

Like keeping a calendar, it gives you better idea of when to duck...

[Frank_2001]

Well, maybe a few H-bombs could take some of the pressure off;)

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

You could be close to the action.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

...predict them ahead of time and provide a warning for society.

"Attention World. A cataclysmic eruption that will freeze the world for a decade and wipe out 99% of humankind will occur in the next 1 to 2 years. Please commence preparations."

What would you do to prepare?

[null and void]

Join a Mormon church?

[VanShuyten]

For reading later

[TruthWillWin]

Oh, this is about volcanoes.

[null and void]

Assuming there is a later...

};^P>

[Mike Darancette]

Imagine a pyroclastic flow boiling down the Sherwin Grade at 200 mph and 1,000 C.

[Terry Mross]

Make sure I’m right with my maker.

[TigersEye]

There is nothing anyone can do about a super eruption so if one happens that’s just tuff.

[bd476]

Thanks for the Ping, Ernest!

Earthquake Ping List.
If you wish to be removed from the Earthquake Ping List or added to it, please FReepmail me.

[JimSEA]

Tuff? Be gneiss.

[StAnDeliver]

"The fact that the process of magma body formation occurs in historical time, instead of geological time, completely changes the nature of the problem, said Gualda. Instead of concluding that there is virtually no risk of another super-eruption for the foreseeable future because there are no suitable magma bodies, geologists need to regularly monitor areas where super-eruptions are likely, such as Yellowstone, to provide advanced warning if such a magma body begins to form.

According to a 2005 report by the Geological Society of London, even science fiction cannot produce a credible mechanism for averting a super-eruption. We can, however, work to better understand the mechanisms involved in super-eruptions, with the goal of being able to predict them ahead of time and provide a warning for society. Preparedness is the key to mitigation of the disastrous effects of a super-eruption.

Vanderbilt doctoral student Ayla S. Pamukcu, Mark S. Ghiorso of OFM Research, and Alfred T. Anderson Jr., Stephen R. Sutton and Mark L. Rivers from the University of Chicago participated in the study, which was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation."

Translation: More money, please.

[Campion]

Pumice us you won’t pun like this again!