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Oregon Is Growing A Mystery Bulge

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the state-on-a-hot-tin-lake dept.

nedwolf writes "LiveScience is reporting that a 100 square mile bulge has been rising in Oregon. First observed from a satellite using a relatively new technology called 'radar interferometry', some believe this to be the formation of a new volcano. I think it's just happy to see me."

22 of 420 comments (clear)

  1. Baby Sister? by ackthpt · · Score: 5, Informative
    Looks quiet now.

    To put things into perspective here's recent quakes throught the US, notice the activity in the state of California, to the south.

    Back in the late 90's there were swarms of minor earthquakes around the Long Valley Caldera, the vicinity of California where Mammoth Lakes and Mammoth Mountain are located. Swarms of earth quakes, 4.0 (Richter) and lower, most lower than 2.0, were up to 600 per 24 hours for a period of about two weeks, and ground elevations were observed changing (similarly to those in Oregon) slightly, but as you can see all is quiet and nothing happened. Long Valley is the caldera of a very large, dormant volcano.

    Here is a good example of a swarm of aftershocks.

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  2. When Asked for Comment... by ferrellcat · · Score: 5, Funny

    When asked for comment, Oregon said, "I can't help it! California's been rubbing against me for millions of years!"

    1. Re:When Asked for Comment... by Datamonstar · · Score: 5, Funny

      Californication?

      --
      The eternal struggle of good vs. evil begins within one's self.
  3. Mr. President, Dr. Evil is on the line... by TripMaster+Monkey · · Score: 5, Funny


    Good afternoon, gentlemen. As you are all no doubt aware, I have perfected a device capable of generating volcanoes at my whim. Even now I have raised a titanic bulge of liquid hot mag-ma under the state of Oregon. This device, which I've dubbed 'The Erupteron', has passed its field test with flying colors, I'm sure you'll agree...

    You see, gentlemen, 'The Erupteron' will be used to generate bulges under one of your major cities every six hours, causing them to sink into firey hot mag-ma, utterly destroying them...that is...unless you pay me...

            One hundred billion trillion fafillion dollahs!!!

            (cue dramatic music)

    Gentleman, you have my demands...peace out.

    --
    ____

    ~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey

    1. Re:Mr. President, Dr. Evil is on the line... by dusik · · Score: 5, Funny

      >> "...maybe TMM has too much time on his hands since he posts so much..."

      Haha, that reminds me. A coworker came up to me one time and asked me if I read slashdot. I said yeah. Then she asked me if people really have some much free time to post like that one guy.... what's his name... something Coward....

      True story. :)

    2. Re:Mr. President, Dr. Evil is on the line... by soops1966 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Can you stick one under New Orleans, it's a bit damp at the moment and we'd like to dry it out.

      Thanks.

    3. Re:Mr. President, Dr. Evil is on the line... by Dr.+Evil · · Score: 5, Funny

      Dr. Evil stopped being cool five years ago.

      Much to my dismay :-(

  4. an alternate theory by Savatte · · Score: 5, Funny

    The U.S. hit puberty and Oregon got the country's first zit

    1. Re:an alternate theory by fizban · · Score: 5, Funny

      That would also explain the huge wet dream we just had "down there."

      --

      +1 Insightful, -1 Troll. What can I say, I'm an Insightful Troll.

  5. This would be a shield volcano by ReformedExCon · · Score: 5, Informative

    A shield volcano is formed when a large pool of magma forms and pushes the land above it upwards. These types are not likely to erupt, though they will erupt violently if the magma is able to push through the surface (kind of like a giant geologic pimple). These volcanos are great for tourism because of the typically accompanying hot springs and year-round greenery.

    I like Oregon a lot. I just wish it were easier to get to.

    --
    Jesus saved me from my past. He can save you as well.
    1. Re:This would be a shield volcano by nes11 · · Score: 5, Funny

      "These volcanos are great for tourism... "

      New Orleans was great for tourism too. Maybe we should build a city on top of this bulge.

    2. Re:This would be a shield volcano by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Volcano lesson for the day:
      This is not a shield volcano.

      A shield volcano is actually made by layers and layers of basaltic magma. Hawaii (the large, flat volcanos) are shield volcanos. Basaltic magma is very hot, iron rich, and flows easily. It tends to bubble and gurgle, not explode. There's a reason hawaiian eruptions don't produce ash clouds - no big explosion.

      http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/Products/Pglossary/Shiel dVolcano.html

      In Oregon, we have very few shield volcanos. Most of ours are composite volcanos (made from lava pusing up a dome, plus layers of flowing ash) and cinder cones (made from piles of ejected cinders). Our magmas are rhyolitic, meaning they contain little iron, it is at relatively cooler temperatures, and tend to explode violently (like Mount St. Helens or the famous Mount Mazama... now crater lake).

      http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Glossary/StratoVolcano/d escription_composite_volcano.html

    3. Re:This would be a shield volcano by gladed · · Score: 5, Funny

      Maybe we should build a city on top of this bulge. Great idea! It could be America's new hot spot. A party town that is sure to be a blast. I predict real estate will explode there.

  6. square? by ftsf · · Score: 5, Funny

    since when are volcanos square? must be some giant square monolith planted by aliens years ago rising out of the ground

  7. It's just middle age... by TheNucleon · · Score: 5, Funny
    You folks don't get it. Oregon is just slowing down a bit, growing a spare tire - when you get older, you'll understand how difficult it is to keep the weight off.

    After all, now there's just more of it to love.

    --
    My comments are my own, and do not represent the views of my employer, my spouse, my children, or my cats.
  8. Re:Same fault line by geomon · · Score: 5, Informative

    both regions lie along the same fault line.

    No. Both regions sit atop the seismically active area named "The Ring Of Fire", which is a poetic name given to a seismically active rim boundary indicated by plots of earthquake epicenter. The purple band you see on the map is the area is the subduction zone of the Pacific Plate.

    This is not a fault zone. Fault zones arise in response to subduction.

    --
    "Rocky Rococo, at your cervix!"
  9. Re:A bulge? by 'nother+poster · · Score: 5, Funny

    Nope. D.C. is the rectum.

  10. Re:New measurement technique != new geology by Scarblac · · Score: 5, Informative

    They are now able to detect this swelling...how do we know it isn't normal.

    We don't, of course. The bit below is from a mysterious item usually related to as "the fucking article", bolding mine:

    The likely cause of the bulge is a pool of magma that, according to Deschutes National Forest geologist Larry Chitwood, is equal in size to a lake 1 mile across and 65 feet deep.
    The magma lake is rising 10 feet each year, under tremendous pressure, and it deforms the Earth's surface as it expands, causing the bulge.
    Other causes could be anything from the birth of a new volcano -- a fourth Sister in the making -- to a routine and anticlimactic pooling of liquid rock, researchers say.
    "The honest and shortest answer is, we don't know,'' said Dan Dzurisin, a USGS geologist.
    --
    I believe posters are recognized by their sig. So I made one.
  11. Re:Well, there's a reason by bmalia · · Score: 5, Funny

    Angela Dodson: I guess God has a plan for all of us.
    John Constantine: God's a kid with an ant farm, lady. He's not planning anything.

    --
    There's no place like ~/
  12. Re:Same fault line by keraneuology · · Score: 5, Informative
    This is not a fault zone. Fault zones arise in response to subduction.

    Not always. San Andreas is a transform fault - no subduction involved. See http://jersey.uoregon.edu/~mstrick/AskGeoMan/geoQu erry22.html

    --
    If the g'vt kept the data on you that google does you'd better believe you'd be calling it "doing evil"
  13. Re:A bulge? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    > Nope. D.C. is the rectum.

    Nope. Katrina rectum. D.C. fuckin' near killed 'em.

  14. Re:This would NOT be a shield volcano by pilgrim23 · · Score: 5, Funny

    A Californian a Texan and an Oregonian are sittin around a fire sipping their evening beverage.
    Texan pulls out a 45 caliber hog leg, tosses his empty of Lone Star Beer up in the air, and plugs it dead center.

    Californian finishes his mulled Petite Sara, tosses the wine bottle in the air and shatters it with one round from a Saturday night special.

    The Oregonian takes a last sip of his bottled Starbucks Late`, tosses it in the air, grabs his deer rifle, plugs the Californian and catches the bottle

    "Why'd ya go and do THAT?" says the Texan.

    "Because", says the Oregonian, "We have plenty of those up here" gesturing at the dead Californian, "and this", holding up the bottle, "is worth FIVE CENTS!"

    --
    - Minutus cantorum, minutus balorum, minutus carborata descendum pantorum.