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Yellowstone Supervolcano Making Strange Rumblings
Frosty Piss writes "Supervolcanoes can sleep for centuries or millennia before producing incredibly massive eruptions that can drop ash across an entire continent. One of the largest supervolcanoes in the world lies beneath Yellowstone National Park. Significant activity continues beneath the surface. And the activity has been increasing lately, scientists have discovered. In addition, the nearby Teton Range of mountains is somehow getting shorter. The findings, reported this month in the Journal of Journal of Geophysical Research, suggest that a slow and gradual movement of a volcano over time can shape a landscape more than a violent eruption."
"Teton" is french for booby.
It's true I tell you, feller at work's next door neighbour read it in the paper.
Better not happen before I find out what happens in Lost.
sacrifice a virgin! yeah, theres plenty of those here reading slashdot im sure..
-Dirtbag
Last time I visited Yellowstone, I saw some people throwing half eaten burritos and other Mexican food loaded with refried beans into these blow holes, vents and what not. Told them it is dangerous, but no body would listen. People are senseless!
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
I mean it, really hungry.
Judging by all the inflation, pressure and possible eruptions - scientists have concluded that Yellowstone really needs to get laid.
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
"due" is a relative term, because that assumes that there is a definite periodicity, when we really can't infer that from just three prior events.
A "change of pace", if it's not just a lava flow, has a chance to mean something that's massive enough to make Katrina look like someone's dog pooed in a park. It doesn't have to be, it isn't likely to be, but if it's like the previous major eruptions, then then much of the globe is in for a little trouble. The last major eruption in SE Asia basically caused there to be no summer in Europe, meaning major crop failures just about everywhere.
I think you're thinking of Jellystone Park...
FYI, tornadoes are probably the easiest natural disaster to avoid; all you have to do is pay at least slight attention to the weather and have access to a basement or interior room. I've lived in Tornado Alley my entire life, and it's been 15 years since the last time a tornado came close enough to where I live that taking cover was justified.
On the other hand, even though it's very unlikely to happen in my lifetime, a Yellowstone eruption would almost certainly own much of North America. An eruption from that hot spot 10-12 million years ago killed wildlife halfway across the continent.
I would like to tell you something to help calm your nerves, but I'm too busy digging out my shelter to stop just yet.
There are 10 kinds of people in the world... those who understand binary and those who don't.
Sure, if it goes off it will ruin a lot of people's days. But if it goes off every million years or so, well, what are the chances of being alive to witness it? Not terribly good. Our species may not even be around the next time this thing blows. Same goes with other super-catastrophes like large asteroid impacts. I'm all for long-term thinking, but there's a danger in thinking too long-term as well, that is, let's worry about next year's hurricane season, or that hundred-year flood, rather than what happens when the sun goes into red giant phase a billion years from now.
Historically, it's the "normal" catastrophes that happen on the order of every few decades or centuries -like earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, plagues, famines, and non-super volcanoes- which have tended to kill hundreds of thousands or millions of people. Not to mention our incredible genius when it comes to killing each other. In terms of minimizing human casualties, odds are the most cost-effective solutions will be things like better building codes to withstand earthquakes, not letting people build in flood-prone areas, and perhaps most importantly, developing the ability to rapidly respond to disasters when they do happen.
How much warning will it likely give before it does erupt? Years, months, or days?
Do not be scared. An eruption is not due for at least another several hundred years.
Really? Know that for a fact do you? Yellowstone could blow up tomorrow, or it could blow up in 17,000 years. All we know is that it will blow up again someday. It's tricky to predict because all the standard warning signs that we usually notice when volcanoes are about to erupt are already happening in Yellowstone.
This hotspot is just grumblinb a little. Even if it does erupt any time soon, it will be a nice change of pace.
Yeah, it would be a change of pace. What, do you think ash melts away?
Let's look at Bill Bryson's description:
Per the article, geoscientists only have detailed large-scale measurements for the last 17 years (which would roughtly correspond to the increasing availability of reasonably-priced GPS and comm units I should think). So how do they know that activity is increasing (or decreasing) on any kind of historical scale?
sPh
Ahhh! But how easy to use is Microsoft Windows for Sperm?
"History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme." Mark Twain
If I didn't live a stone's throw away from Yellowstone (by which I mean how far Yellowstone is going to throw stones when it goes) I'd be kind of cheering it on in that way I watch hurricanes or tidal waves and think "whoah, that's amazing."
If Yellowstone went, we might expect "some 2,000 million tons of sulphuric acid were ejected into the atmosphere to block out sunlight over much of the planet causing global temperatures to plummet by between 10C and 20C." from here.
WMD's in Jackson's Hole: who would ever have thought? (Cue the Taco Bell jokes...)
Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
"The last eruption was 640,000 years ago... so the next is overdue."
That's kind of like saying "it hasn't rained in a couple weeks, so it'll probably rain today". There is a very small chance this thing will erupt in your lifetime. We should be prepared anyway, though.
This is obviously due to human activities. Probably the weight of all the SUV's people are driving there on vacation is compressing the magma resulting in increased volcanic activity. There's no way this is natural.
I love quantum theory.
the NPG electrode was replaced with carbon blac
The last time I got a traffic citation was about 1990.
The one before that was about 1985
And before that about 1980.
Does that mean that there is a cycle of 5 years between citations and that I'm overdue for another citation?
What can you do about it.
Odds are very good that it will not happen in your life or you children's, or their children's. It may never happen.
This is a great example of an unreasonable fear.
You are far more likely to die in a car accident than from Yellowstone erupting as a super-volcano.
If you want make an effort to live a long happy life the best things you can do are.
Exercise at least 30 minutes a day.
Eat a good diet.
Don't smoke.
Don't drink and drive.
Don't drive late at night.
Oh and put aside money for your retirment and stay out of debt. That is for the happy part a long and happy life.
You should fear a sedentary life style and tobacco a lot more than volcanoes.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
I'm going to transform myself into a mighty hawk. Either that or I'll just go and work at Dixons, haven't decided yet.
But I warn you, there will be casualties. Everyone but the romantic leading man and the vulnerable-but-tough woman will be in real mortal danger. But I know we can do it!
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
If the Yellowstone Supervolcano blows, the last forecast I heard was that it will be about 100 times as powerful as the Thera/Santorini explosion. The sound alone will probably kill everyone in the contenental US instantly. It's only the rest of the human race that has to suffer and die during the resulting ice age.
Have a nice day. =)
//Information does not want to be free; it wants to breed.
If it blows, there's a good chance the park won't be so crowded that year. I could finally go!
If the global economy survives, there will be some pretty awesome post-apocalyptic video games to play off of this. Tired of the WWII rehashes.
Global catastrophe and end of life as know it aside, this could be positive for gaming!
If the volcano is coming alive, perhaps, we can dump some of the heat off by simply doing a lot more geothermal power plants. So far, the ones that they have set up there are wet ones that waste the water there. But if they build it so that it recycles or simply is treated as a dry plant, then we can use it to create giga watts of energy AND escape the heat from below.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Imagine what it would take to turn over all the soil in Kansas. Oh... wait... that happens at the start of every planting. So. If this happens during the winter, they might need to scrape off some ash, pile it by the side of the field, or take and put it in a big pile someplace (which is what happens to grain a lot of the time anyway). The real concern is that it will happen during the growing season and interfere with growth and harvest.
You can't compare the clearing of a massive wreck of twisted metal and concrete full of remains to clearing a field. Obviously, interfering with growth and harvest is a major concern. If it's not raining, a strategy involving a blower attachment to a combine might still save the crop. Somebody should test that. If it rains though, your crop couuld end up encased in something with the consistancy of wet cement. Also, you've got to filter those engines really well. Somebody should test this, like FEMA... umm... ok, umm... yeah, we're fucked.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
The last major eruption in SE Asia basically caused there to be no summer in Europe
Hey, we could use a little global cooling...
-- Alastair
Just wait. The Yellowstone supervolcano and the New Madrid fault are both overdue. Comes 2036, asteroid Apophis hits the Earth, triggering the New Madrid fault which in turn pushes Yellowstone over the edge.
On the upside, we won't have to worry about the 2038 unix/linux clock rollover.
-- Alastair
yes
We need as many of them as possible to stand on park itself, providing extra weight to keep the ground down. We need the equivalent of about 20 metric-Oprahs per acre over the long term. This will cause the magma bubble to recede, and bulge somewhere else. The Bush administration is doing research (on cable tv) to see if that bulge will happen in Iran.
The problem with quotes on the internet, is that nobody bothers to check their veracity. -- Abraham Lincoln
When Mt. St. Helens blew we had about 3 feet of ash over all our fields in Eastern WA. The problem was you couldn't really scrape it. It was too light and fluffy -- at least till the first rain fall then it was like concrete. In the end it was a combination of like he said scraping and plowing it under.
The big problem was what it did to engines -- that stuff is super corrosive well ok more correct would be super abrasive -- you have to have special filters on all your air intakes and they have to be cleaned frequently.
While not as easy as the GP makes it out to be -- farmers for the most part have the equipment to clear the fields and it can be done fairly quickly.
I've read about the caldera previously.
So have I, and my prediction based on previous history it will just change it's name to a three letter acronym, fail to sue IBM and fizzle out leaving a smoking crater in Utah.
Oh, we're talking about geology...
Blank until
i don't own emergency pants!
:)
Just remember this rule when buying emergency pants:
Emergency pants are always brown.
You already know why.
This is my sig. There are many like it but this one is... Oops. Frank, I've got your sig again! Where's mine?
It would if this were only, say, January of 1996. But in reality, you now have quite a bit of evidence that there is not a regular periodicity to collecting traffic citations.
However, in the case of the volcano, we are only 1/15th of a cycle late. It is too early to say that we have totally bucked the trend.
Fertilizer. Some of the most fertile land in the world is precariously located in the shadow of a frightening volcano. Why do you think that is?
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
The Discovery Channel's website has a pretty neat and informative Flash presentation on the Yellowstone hotspot.
If you're dumb, surround yourself with smart people. If you're smart, surround yourself with smart people who disagree
Clear the ash? I remember when Mt. St Helens blew. Every one was flipping about how it would devastate the crops, and that it was the end of the world!!! Then harvest time came, turns out volcanic ash is the best thing for plants since the advent of light. In fact, I have a friend with a house plant potted in ash from that eruption. It is one of the most healthy strong plants I have ever seen. I'm looking forward to that much ash.
We are the Borg...
Presumably you were trying for those funny mods you got, but since you haven't had any sensible replies yet I'll chip in - you know somebody is going to take it seriously.
Volcanic eruptions are like earthquakes in that they are a release of built up pressure. Earthquakes happen at fault lines when two land masses have moved far enough relative to each other that the sides of the fault slip against each other to relieve the accumulated pressure. Volcanoes accumulate pressure from... uhh... magma upwellings or something... which is released when they erupt. Both are examples of a system in which there is a steady increase in potential energy which is catastropically released when enough energy is stored. If the rate of energy storage remains the same the eruptions/earthquakes will have a fairly regular period. Traffic violations aren't caused by any kind of build up of energy, so there's no reason to expect periodicity.
.evom ton seod gis eht
I don't understand.
In the GP, rujholla explained the widely known experience of thousands of farmers in dealing with volcanic ash.
You appear to be trying to use your imagined idea of what farmers are capable of to disprove the results of this empirical evidence.
Exam 4/C again. Maybe I'll do better this time.