Yellowstone Supervolcano Even Bigger Than We Realized

The Washington Post reports that the "supervolcano" beneath Yellowstone National Park (which, thankfully, did not kill us all in 2004, or in 2008 ) may be more dangerous when it does erupt than anyone realized until recently. Scientists have today published a paper documenting their discovery of an even larger, deeper pool of magma below the already huge reservoir near the surface. From the article: On Thursday, a team from the University of Utah published a study, in the journal Science, that for the first time offers a complete diagram of the plumbing of the Yellowstone volcanic system. The new report fills in a missing link of the system. It describes a large reservoir of hot rock, mostly solid but with some melted rock in the mix, that lies beneath a shallow, already-documented magma chamber. The newly discovered reservoir is 4.5 times larger than the chamber above it. There's enough magma there to fill the Grand Canyon. The reservoir is on top of a long plume of magma that emerges from deep within the Earth's mantle. ... “This is like a giant conduit. It starts down at 1,000 kilometers. It's a pipe that starts down in the Earth," said Robert Smith, emeritus professor of geophysics at the University of Utah and a co-author of the new paper. ... The next major, calderic eruption could be within the boundaries of the park, northeast of the old caldera. “If you have this crustal magma system that is beneath the pre-Cambrian rocks, eventually if you get enough fluid in that system, enough magma, you can create another caldera, another set of giant explosions," Smith said. "There’s no reason to think it couldn’t continue that same process and repeat that process to the northeast.”

Comments

Here's to hoping they don't find oil

[sirwired]

Here's to hoping they don't find any oil there, given the earthquakes it's caused in OK.

Re:Here's to hoping they don't find oil

[GNious]

Having said that, one might be able to drill from a decent angle to maintain structure integrity as I've shown here.

I fully expected goatse or rickroll or something - very disappointed!

Re:GeoThermal Energy anyone?

[Tablizer]

That's what I keep thinking: too bad we can't mine all that energy such that we'd be killing two birds with one stone: getting energy AND draining the heat from that spot, reducing the risk or magnitude of a volcanic explosion.

It's kind of like using ocean water to solve coastal droughts: all that water sitting right next to us, but no practical way to turn it into potable water. It's a tease; at least with current technology.

It is also a supervolcano.

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought it was widely known that when Yellowstone finally does go up, that will be an extinction-level event. Most of the planet will become completely uninhabitable for decades. Right on the equator might be habitable, but you can bet your bottom dollar the current residents will be pushed out by those with better weapons.

Prepping for this is a joke. No power, no running water, no crops, no breathable air on the surface, for years and years. Your basement shelter won't keep you alive for a month under those conditions.