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'Geospeedometer' Confirms Super-eruptions Have Surprisingly Short Fuses (vanderbilt.edu)

Science_afficionado writes: Super-eruptions – you know, those gigantic prehistoric volcanic outbursts that throw 100 times more superheated gas, ash and rock into the atmosphere than run-of-the-mill eruptions like Mt. St. Helens — tend to pop-off within a few hundred years after their underground body of magma reaches a high enough proportion of molten rock and low enough proportion of crystallization to become explosive. That's a much shorter time than geologists had thought. That means if the hot spot under Yellowstone, for example, were to turn explosive, then we would only have couple hundred years to prepare for an eruption that could blanket the entire continent with up to 3,600 cubic miles of ash and rock!

67 comments

  1. World to End by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Women and Minorities Hardest Hit

  2. Whoopdefuckingdoo... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    More Chicken Little crap from /.

    Quite simply put, if your number is up, you're going to die. Come tell me when they think it's going to start the cycle and we can prepare appropriately. Until then, this is more "making news" and I'm quite fucking tired (as are many...) of this bullshit.

  3. Geology sometimes moves VERY quickly by davide+marney · · Score: 0

    The Columbia river gorge in Washington state was carved from a series of cataclysmic floods, the largest of which carried 13 times the volume of the Amazon river.

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    1. Re:Geology sometimes moves VERY quickly by Rei · · Score: 5, Interesting

      North-flowing rivers in temperate and subarctic northern hemisphere regions are dangerous, as they collect rainwater or meltwater from warmer areas in the south and flow it up into areas that may still be frozen, and thus blocked off by ice dams.

      Here in Iceland we have a related problem but with a different source - volcanic outburst floods (jökulhlaup). Unfortunately ours are still ongoing at regular intervals. We had one about 10-15% the size of the largest Columbia River Gorge floods in the 1800s. And in prehistoric times they've gotten far larger. It's the reason why people get nervous when big subglacial volcanoes like Bárðarbunga start rumbling. The power companies try to calm people down by saying no worries, the dams from which we get most of our power are rated to handle jökulhlaup... but when you look at the size of jökulhlaup they're rated for they're nothing, like 10k m/s or so.

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    2. Re:Geology sometimes moves VERY quickly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That flood happened during the end of the last ice age, when a lot of glacial lakes were breaking free in cataclysmic fashion due to insane amounts of melting glaciers that covered all of Canada and extended as far down as Missouri. I don't think there's much of a chance of that happening today. Not that we are in short supply of other ways for our world to come crashing down (super volcanoes, climate change, asteroids, etc) but massive glacial floods are not really one of them.

    3. Re:Geology sometimes moves VERY quickly by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 3, Funny

      That flood happened during the end of the last ice age, when a lot of glacial lakes were breaking free in cataclysmic fashion due to insane amounts of melting glaciers that covered all of Canada

      Wait, you mean to say that Canada isn't still covered in glaciers?

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    4. Re:Geology sometimes moves VERY quickly by ultranova · · Score: 2

      the dams from which we get most of our power are rated to handle jÃkulhlaup... but when you look at the size of jÃkulhlaup they're rated for they're nothing, like 10k m/s or so.

      Nothing? I'd be pretty damn impressed with a dam that can handle a flood moving at orbital velocity.

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    5. Re:Geology sometimes moves VERY quickly by Rei · · Score: 2

      Slashdot eats the unicode "^3" character, among countless others :P

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  4. Why is this on slashdot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    How does this affects women in IT?

    1. Re:Why is this on slashdot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Several women live within the blast radius of the Yellowstone caldera and at least one of he probably owns an iPhone.

  5. 3,600 cubic miles of ash and rock! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wow!

    1. Re:3,600 cubic miles of ash and rock! by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

      wower in cubic kilometers.

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    2. Re:3,600 cubic miles of ash and rock! by Ashenkase · · Score: 1

      15000 cubic kilometers for everyone else in the world.

    3. Re:3,600 cubic miles of ash and rock! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      At a land area of 9.5 million square miles for North America, that comes out to a layer 2 feet deep. This assumes the ash is held back onto land at the ocean's edge.

  6. Re: Silver linings... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you think that all problems can be fixed at the end of a gun, think again, idiot. Those that refuse to learn the lessons of history etc ...

  7. blanket the entire continent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    blanket the entire continent with up to 3,600 cubic miles of ash and rock!

    In the case of an eruption like that, clearly the ruined lawn of Americans would be the pertinent problem. Global winter and loss of crops worldwide? Who gives a shit.

    1. Re: blanket the entire continent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Okay, I'm as annoyed with my country as the rest of the world but you're really stretching if you're implying the grandparent was concerned only with the US. That'd also make you an idiot.

    2. Re:blanket the entire continent by khallow · · Score: 1

      In the case of an eruption like that, clearly the ruined lawn of Americans would be the pertinent problem. Global winter and loss of crops worldwide? Who gives a shit.

      I suppose in that light it'd be worth noting that most of that lost food production would be on North America's "lawns".

    3. Re:blanket the entire continent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      God damn volcano; get off my lawn!

    4. Re:blanket the entire continent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      woohoo! i wouldn't need to mow my lawn!

    5. Re: blanket the entire continent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just spray the ash green.

  8. To do list by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Start now.

  9. Where did that 3600 cubic miles figure come from? by cdrudge · · Score: 5, Interesting

    we would only have couple hundred years to prepare for an eruption that could blanket the entire continent with up to 3,600 cubic miles of ash and rock!

    Where did the 3,600 cubic miles of ash and rock figure come from?

    The largest 3 previous explosions of the Yellowstone caldera happened 2m, 630k, and 1.3m years ago releasing an estimated 600, 240, and 67 cubic miles of ash and rock. That's a combined 907 cubic miles, a quarter of what the summary suggests could happen. I can't find that number in the article anywhere. 3600 cubic kilometers converts to approximately 863.7 cubic miles which would be more believable. The largest volcanic eruptions ever believed to happen top out at 8,600 cubic kilometers, ~2063 cubic miles.

  10. Only a few hundred years to prepare!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's so scary. It's like I could hear that the super volcano would erupt and then only have time to live my entire life and die before my great great... great grand children who I would never meet would possibly suffer from the eruption!

    1. Re:Only a few hundred years to prepare!! by TFlan91 · · Score: 0

      Climate change argument all over again...

    2. Re:Only a few hundred years to prepare!! by Megane · · Score: 1

      It's plenty of time to send up a B-ark, if you know what I mean.

      Oooh, look, we've got this giant volcano about to explode! Quick, let's evacuate all the middle-management types first!

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    3. Re:Only a few hundred years to prepare!! by silentcoder · · Score: 1

      You do remember what happened to Golgafrincham afterwards right ? ... went extinct from a virulent plague spread by unhygienic telephone handsets.

      In an odd way... it's as if Adams were in favor of the useless middle manager types.

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      Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
    4. Re:Only a few hundred years to prepare!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That won't be a problem here on Earth. We've made great progress in eliminating telephone handsets.

    5. Re:Only a few hundred years to prepare!! by silentcoder · · Score: 1

      Not really, we just put them in everybody's pockets... if anything, that would probably make it spread faster :P

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      Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
    6. Re:Only a few hundred years to prepare!! by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 1

      Why? We're not sharing our cellphones.

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      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    7. Re:Only a few hundred years to prepare!! by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      Maybe it also spread as an STD that lowered your inhibitions with lending/borrowing people's cell phones?

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    8. Re:Only a few hundred years to prepare!! by silentcoder · · Score: 1

      If it's an STD that can spread via dickpix we're all doomed...

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      Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
  11. Re: Silver linings... by khallow · · Score: 1

    Well, one of those lessons of history is that if you're trying to get from point A to point B and there's a fence in the way, then more/better guns than the guys with the fence plus better tactics, can get you to point B. Not every problem can be solved with guns, but the simple sort described in this thread is of the kind that can.

  12. Not a problem by AntEater · · Score: 1

    I've seen worse.

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  13. Re:Where did that 3600 cubic miles figure come fro by khallow · · Score: 5, Informative

    Where did the 3,600 cubic miles of ash and rock figure come from?

    It's probably based on the size of the magma chambers underneath Yellowstone which are much larger in volume than the eruptions from Yellowstone.

    While you are currently right about the estimated size of known, possibly single volcanic eruptions, it's worth noting that ongoing volcanic eruptions can be much larger, such as the Siberian Traps, which are thought to originally have been as high as seven million cubic km of lava over a million year period.

  14. Re:Where did that 3600 cubic miles figure come fro by BradleyUffner · · Score: 5, Funny

    we would only have couple hundred years to prepare for an eruption that could blanket the entire continent with up to 3,600 cubic miles of ash and rock!

    Where did the 3,600 cubic miles of ash and rock figure come from?

    The largest 3 previous explosions of the Yellowstone caldera happened 2m, 630k, and 1.3m years ago releasing an estimated 600, 240, and 67 cubic miles of ash and rock. That's a combined 907 cubic miles, a quarter of what the summary suggests could happen. I can't find that number in the article anywhere. 3600 cubic kilometers converts to approximately 863.7 cubic miles which would be more believable. The largest volcanic eruptions ever believed to happen top out at 8,600 cubic kilometers, ~2063 cubic miles.

    It was precisely calculated by taking the realistic number and adding the "scare multiplier" to it in order to increase page views.

  15. Re:Where did that 3600 cubic miles figure come fro by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 2

    Whew! So it's only 600 or so cubic miles.

    Thank god.

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  16. Re:Where did that 3600 cubic miles figure come fro by zdavek · · Score: 1

    3600 cubic miles is roughly 10 percent of the mass of earth. If that much erupted I think nothing would exist afterwards, especially N Am. Earth's orbit would probably be changed if there was an eruption that size.

  17. Can't spell BB-8 without babe! by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

    I had a super-eruption recently. Let's just say Daisy Ridley was a fiiiiiiine choice for Star Wars.

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  18. Re: Silver linings... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    can get you to point B.

    Well, "you" collectively, not necessarily "you" personally, as even with better weapons and tactics, it is not a 100% guarantee that every person will survive without harm. Too often people suggesting guns are a solution act like they are a magic forcefield or that bad guys have worse aim than a stormtrooper.

  19. Re:Where did that 3600 cubic miles figure come fro by locofungus · · Score: 2

    3600 cubic miles is roughly 10 percent of the mass of earth.

    Huh?

    3600 is a little less than 16 cubed (2^12 = 4096). So it's a volume contained in a cube less than 16 miles on a side.

    That's a lot less than 10% of the volume of the Earth.

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  20. Re:Where did that 3600 cubic miles figure come fro by rahultyagi · · Score: 1

    wait, what? How small do you think the earth is! I can only guess that you think 3600 cubic miles is the volume of a cube of side 3600 miles. Usually this is meant to be the volume. so, for example, the volume of a cube of side 15 miles is around that much.

  21. What is this prepare you speak of? by shess · · Score: 0

    we would only have couple hundred years to prepare for an eruption

    I think you meant "we would only have a couple hundred years to sit on our asses denying that an eruption could ever happen, and even if it did erupt there's nothing we could do about it anyhow".

    1. Re:What is this prepare you speak of? by khallow · · Score: 0

      I think you meant "we would only have a couple hundred years to sit on our asses denying that an eruption could ever happen, and even if it did erupt there's nothing we could do about it anyhow".

      Why would anyone bother? The eruption wouldn't force us to curb our evil industrial activities so there's nothing there to turn it into the moralistic wankfest that is climate change.

    2. Re:What is this prepare you speak of? by Matheus · · Score: 1

      Plus the "there's nothing we could do about it anyhow" has a bit of truth. I'm all for novel solutions (like what Spock did to the volcano in New Trek 2) but for our current reality the only solutions amount to "Colonizing other planets" or other such relocation efforts (Sky, underground in "safe" parts of the world, etc). We're hopefully already working on #1 albeit at a snail's pace so a couple hundred years year's warning may be just the right amount to actually have some population out there. The reality is even with such solutions a lot of people are going to die here. (Read Billions) it's the civilizations we start elsewhere that will continue.

    3. Re:What is this prepare you speak of? by gtall · · Score: 1, Funny

      As opposed to the wankfest that is climate change denial, possibly? Relax, Jesus will save us...err...anyone got his number, just in case?

    4. Re:What is this prepare you speak of? by khallow · · Score: 1

      As opposed to the wankfest that is climate change denial, possibly?

      Yes. I think that's generally portrayed as reactionary.

    5. Re:What is this prepare you speak of? by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      Why not just stockpile a years worth of food and continue on? It will get a little cold, but nothing we couldn't deal with.

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  22. Just Guessing by rally2xs · · Score: 1

    but there's probably enough energy in the Yellowstone magma chambers to 100% power all our (humanity's - the world's) energy requirements for absolutely everything we do. Tapping it fully, MAYBE we could keep it from getting any hotter. Suspicious we could not construct enough heat sinks to actually cool it at all, its too big.

  23. Re:Where did that 3600 cubic miles figure come fro by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hollow Earth theory bro, hollow earth.

  24. How many potential super-volcanoes are there? by SharpFang · · Score: 1

    Yellowstone is one... are there any others? How many? Where?

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  25. Re: Silver linings... by GodInHell · · Score: 0

    Yes. I want your shotgun. Not all shotguns - just yours anon - just yours. /s/ The Democratic Party.

  26. Re:Where did that 3600 cubic miles figure come fro by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 1

    3600 cubic miles is roughly 10 percent of the mass of earth.

    Perhaps you're thinking "3600 miles cubed" instead of "3600 cubic miles". They're not the same thing.

    --

    "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
  27. Re:Where did that 3600 cubic miles figure come fro by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    3600 cubic miles is roughly 10 percent of the mass of earth.

    You might be confusing the term "3600 cubic miles" with "3600 miles cubed".

    The standard interpretation of "3600 cubic miles" is that it's the volume that results when you take one cubic mile and multiply it by 3600.

    The standard interpretation of "3600 miles cubed" is that it's the volume of a cube that is 3600 miles long on each side.

    There is at least 10 orders of magnitude in difference between these two interpretations.

  28. 3600 cubic miles is 3.4 inches deep. by idji · · Score: 1

    nt

    1. Re:3600 cubic miles is 3.4 inches deep. by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      http://www.businessinsider.com...

      I wouldn't want to deal with the Meter or so of ash, but in most of the country it is something that could be dealt with. It is the global crash of agriculture for however long that would be a bad thing, but that we could prepare for as well.

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    2. Re:3600 cubic miles is 3.4 inches deep. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I get 2 feet. Let's compare notes? All from Google:

      area of north america = 24.71 million km^2

      3600 cubic miles / 24710000 square km = 61 cm

  29. I learned a new word today by orgelspieler · · Score: 1

    bleb - n.

    a small blister on the skin.

    a small bubble in glass or in a fluid.

  30. Volcanic wasteland by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sounds like Fallout 5 material.

  31. Re:Where did that 3600 cubic miles figure come fro by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    we would only have couple hundred years to prepare for an eruption that could blanket the entire continent with up to 3,600 cubic miles of ash and rock!

    Where did the 3,600 cubic miles of ash and rock figure come from?

    ...

    The volcano ate too much at Taco Bell (aka Toxic Hell).

  32. Re: Silver linings... by Coren22 · · Score: 0

    That Democratic Party should put in a constitutional amendment to be voted upon than. The constitution guarantees the rights of the people to own firearms, no matter how much the DNC wants to claim otherwise.

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  33. Re:Where did that 3600 cubic miles figure come fro by Coren22 · · Score: 1

    Taco Bell uses Silicon Dioxide as an anti clumping agent in their meat, so it is possible I suppose that a volcano would want some as that is simply sand.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

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