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New model predicts explosive volcano in western US
Paintthemoon writes "A new study out of the UW-Madison of zircon & quartz crystals indicates that the Yellowstone 'hot spot' could erupt again in the near geologic future, with catastrophic results. Seems we're due for another round of volcanic activity which would be about a thousand times more powerful than Mt. Saint Helens. This is based on a new model of how the hot spot there recycles previously expelled molten rock, and gives new understanding of the mechanism involved.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/07/01072 3101806.htm"
The Discovery Channel ran a documentary earlier this month that discussed this very issue. Much of the show was with the man that figured out that a supervolcanoe was brewing under Yellowstone.
The documentary states that the last supervolcanic eruption, similar to what is predicted for Yellowstone, happened some 70,000 years ago. The sound was heard all the way around the world and is said to be the loudest sound ever heard by man. It also went on to say that the eruption's ash fall out and subsequent global climate changes nearly brought about the extiction of mankind.
This further supported the theory that the human genome was significantly reduced or concentrated at about this time in history. This concentration of the genome is attributed to the fact that since the supervolcanoe killed off so much of the human race, there was very little genetic diversity left to perpetuate the species. This resulted in us all having strikingly similar DNA even after tens of thousands of years of evolution.
Nothing to be upset about. The very reason that Yellowstone is such a biologically and geologically interesting place is because of these periodic eruptions. If the activity wasn't there, neither would Yellowstone.
It's the same way with earthquakes, really. Sometimes people wonder aloud what possessed people to live in places with frequent earthquakes and/or volcanoes, and the answer is that the geological activity - or, rather the result of that activity - is the very reason it's a good place to live. You get a varied seafloor with lots of marine life, natural deep harbours, very fertile volcanic soil and varied terrain where it's easy to find secluded, protected sites on which to build.
/Janne
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All Troll + "offtopic" mods are meta moderated as "Unfair", because you abused the system.
The broader /. community is worrying about Hemos. Putting him on the back page is kind of like not inviting people over to the house because Grandpa's fighting the Nazis again.
or, alternatively, we had all kind of assumed that something big would happen in the next one hundred thousand, possibly one million, years, and thus this story is really only of interest to geologists and those who pretend to be able to fake it.
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"Five comments! They stick this in obscurity, in the science section which few ever seem to read. "
Actually, I kind of see it as a blessing that these really good stories get stuck in the back. It keeps all of the standard idiots from reading them, and worse yet posting worthless junk that clogs up a good story. Keep them off of the main page, and we can actually have a good descusion about them, without all of the "heh heh, he said explode" comments. Sure the threshold thing is great, but it still leaves way to many dumb posts who get moded up from other idiots.
That being said, This artice seemed real light on details. They have evidece to show that there might be another good lightshow comming to Yellowstone, but the article seems a bit short on numbers and graphs. Though its nice to see that there is some work being done in the area of predicting volcainic eruptions.
Even still, if this is supportable research, I've got to wonder how the environmentalist movement is going to spin this one into being the fault of humans?
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