Global warming, global cooling

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It is said that if Yellowstone's "supervolcano" cooks off it could wipe out about a fourth of the population of the United States.

There was even a DOCUDRAMA made on this type of event.

Read more on Yellowstone HERE

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,309738,00.html

Yellowstone Lava Dome Filling Up Quickly
Thursday, November 08, 2007

AP

WASHINGTON — Yellowstone National Park, once the site of a giant volcano, has begun swelling up, possibly because molten rock is accumulating beneath the surface, scientists report.

But, "there is no evidence of an imminent volcanic eruption," said Robert B. Smith, a professor of geophysics at the University of Utah.

Many giant volcanic craters around the world go up and down over decades without erupting, he said.

Smith and colleagues report in Friday's issue of the journal Science that the flow of the ancient Yellowstone crater has been moving upward almost 3 inches per year for the past three years.

That is more than three times faster than ever observed since such measurements began in 1923, the researchers said.

"Our best evidence is that the crustal magma chamber is filling with molten rock," Smith said in a statement. "But we have no idea how long this process goes on before there either is an eruption or the inflow of molten rock stops and the caldera deflates again."

It's not unusual for ancient volcano sites like Yellowstone and Long Valley, Calif., to rise and fall, according to the researchers.

The Yellowstone volcanic field was produced by what the researchers described as a plume of hot and molten rock beginning at least 400 miles beneath Earth's surface and rising to 30 miles underground, where it widens to about 300 miles across.

Blobs of molten rock sometimes rise to refill the magma chamber beneath Yellowstone.

The volcano at Yellowstone produced massive eruptions 2 million, 1.3 million and 642,000 years ago, all larger than the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens.

Site of the famed Old Faithful and hundreds of other geysers, Yellowstone sprawls across parts of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.
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If you think this would be a minor event that would not affect you, check this graphic on the size of various volcanic eruptions. Note where Mt. St. Helens resides and then consider how the possibilities of Yellowstone dwarf it.

The last eruption 640,000 years ago formed a caldera 35 miles wide by 50-miles long. That's a lot of earth to move in an instant.

I live in the Denver area and there is a great chance that in the event Yellowstone should cook off that I, and most everyone else here, will be killed.

VEIfigure.jpg
 
I've watched that "Docudrama" a couple of times. It's entertaining. BS but entertaining.

If we can do zero to stop it, why concern ourselves? We live in deserts, in earthquake zones, in hurricane & tornado alleys....it's all part of the experience.
 
Gonz said:
I've watched that "Docudrama" a couple of times. It's entertaining. BS but entertaining.

If we can do zero to stop it, why concern ourselves? We live in deserts, in earthquake zones, in hurricane & tornado alleys....it's all part of the experience.
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Yep, but the USGS doesn't think it is just so much BS.

http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/yvo/2005/docudrama.html

http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/yvo/faqs.html

http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Yellowstone/description_yellowstone.html

There are also sites like THIS which make entertaining reading on the effects of a supervolcano erupting but assumes it would be an explosive eruption like Mt. St. Helens. I'm not a big fan of Rense but he makes me laugh with some of his ravings.
 
Jim, if you paid attention to that Docu drama, you'd have heard them say .... Yellowstone isn't half the threat it was, because of the encroaching Rocky mountains.
 
Professur said:
Jim, if you paid attention to that Docu drama, you'd have heard them say .... Yellowstone isn't half the threat it was, because of the encroaching Rocky mountains.
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Actually, I have not seen the docudrama. I have read accounts of what would happen if the Yellowstone Caldera should cook off violently. It would make Krakatoa look like a ladyfinger firecracker.

Yes, the Rocky Mountains would shield the west coast but the concussion from the blast would initially kill tens of thousands and then the ash would cover vast areas of the U.S. including crop lands. The areas which would be covered would mimic those of previous explosions:

fs2005-3024_fig_12.jpg


The volcanic ash which would be in the air for years would affect all air breathing lifeforms. Can you imagine having this in your lungs and bronchia? It would cause what is known as SILICOSIS.

fs2005-3024_fig_14.jpg


What was the extent of ash deposition from the largest Yellowstone eruptions?

During the three giant caldera-forming eruptions that occurred between 2.1 million and 640,000 years ago, tiny particles of volcanic debris (volcanic ash) covered much of the western half of North America, likely a third of a meter deep several hundred kilometers from Yellowstone and several centimeters thick farther away (Figure 3). Wind carried sulfur aerosol and the lightest ash particles around the planet and likely caused a notable decrease in temperatures around the globe. (There's that sweat gland effect again -- j)

...

Could a large Yellowstone eruption significantly change weather patterns?

If another catastrophic caldera-forming Yellowstone eruption were to occur, it quite likely would alter global weather patterns and have enormous effects on human activity, especially agricultural production, for many years. In fact, the relatively small 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines was shown to have temporarily, yet measurably, changed global temperatures. Scientists, however, at this time do not have the predictive ability to determine specific consequences or durations of possible global impacts from such large eruptions.
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Volcanologists have determined that the Yellowstone Caldera is on a 600,000 year cycle. It is now 640,000 years since the last eruption.
 
Yellowstone going up is the end of the world as we know it, it would create a nuclear winter type condition, and we would likely all starve.
 
paul_valaru said:
Yellowstone going up is the end of the world as we know it, it would create a nuclear winter type condition, and we would likely all starve.
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Actually, it wouldn't be that bad. Popular media anymore tends to take what some scientist will say is a "possible worst case" scenario and then exaggerate it to a ridiculous degree. A lot of people would probably starve but it would be nowhere near the "end of the world." The impact in Europe would be much less dramatic, and in Asia even less. The volume of ejecta would certainly be immense, but nowhere near enough to trigger a climatological catastrophe of that magnitude. It's a very large planet.

Now, the largest single eruption in the last two million years did not occur in Yellowstone. Not even close. It was Toba, in Indonesia, 75,000 years ago and it very nearly did wipe out the human race (some estimates say the global population may have dropped as low as 5,000 :eek: ). Of course, there were a lot fewer humans then and a lot less habitable territory (there was an ice age going on). You know Indonesia, the area where they've been having all the seismic activity for the last couple of decades? Maybe, just maybe, we're watching the wrong super volcano, huh?
 
Yep, we had a pretty big 'un in NZ as well - lake taupo was formed from a volcanic eruption - the effects of which were observed half-way 'round the world.

wiki said:
The most recent major eruption, which occurred in 180 CE and is known as the Hatepe eruption, is believed to have ejected 100 cubic kilometres of material, of which 30 cubic kilometres was ejected in the space of a few minutes. This was one of the most violent eruptions in the last 5,000 years (alongside the Tianchi eruption of Baekdu at around 1000 and the 1815 eruption of Tambora), with a Volcanic Explosivity Index rating of 7. The eruption column was twice as high as the eruption column from Mount St. Helens in 1980, and the ash turned the sky red over Rome and China. The eruption devastated much of the North Island and further expanded the lake.
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would such a major eruption impact my ablity to achieve and maintain an erection, assuming i'm not in the immediate lava flow and i've no preexisting erectile dysfunction?
 
We're all gonna die. How can we stop this supervolcano from happening? Oh, really? Nothing, huh.

Get me a beer. I have some BF2 to play.
 
Gonz said:
We're all gonna die. How can we stop this supervolcano from happening? Oh, really? Nothing, huh.

Get me a beer. I have some BF2 to play.
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Stop drinking that beer. The farts are increasing your carbon footprint.

Here, I'll dispose of it for you. ;)

BTW, we are all going to die.
 
The very idea that man could be capable of utterly destroying anything that was created for him is truly laughable. We ain't that powerful.

OK, back to your tinfoil hats. I'll be over here in the corner spraying aerosol cans of AquaNet on spotted snow owls if anybody needs me.
 
Here go those sweat glands again

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,323725,00.html

Violent Volcanic Eruption in Colombia Prompts Thousands to Evacuate
Thursday, January 17, 2008

BOGOTA, Colombia — A volcano erupted violently in southwestern Colombia Thursday, spewing ash miles into the sky and prompting the evacuation of several thousand people living nearby.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or serious property damage after the 14,110-foot Galeras volcano began erupting about 8 p.m.

About 8,000 people live in areas near the volcano where Pasto's mayor ordered an evacuation but "most of the city is not in danger," Fernando Gil, director of Colombia's Seismological Network, told The Associated Press by phone.

"It's still erupting," Gil said more than two hours after its initial eruption.

Witness said it lit up the night sky. Gil estimated that the ash cloud reached five miles into the air.

He called it the most serious eruption of Galeras since the volcano reactivated in 1989. "Depending on the wind direction it's going to spread ashes over the entire area."

"Most of (Galeras') eruptions are violent and short," he noted. He said Thursday's eruption had produced some lava flows that did not extend far from the volcano's crater.

A 1993 eruption of the volcano, near the border with Ecuador, killed nine people, including five scientists who had descended into the crater to sample gases.

In November 2005, the volcano spewed ash that fell about 30 miles away.
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Meanwhile, closer to home ...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,323372,00.html

Quake, Steam Explosion Shake Mount St. Helens
Thursday, January 17, 2008

VANCOUVER, Wash. — Geologist John S. Pallister was flying over Mount St. Helens when he spotted something unusual.

Pallister, a private pilot who works in the hazards section of the U.S. Geological Survey's Cascades Volcano Observatory, noticed a line of steam coming from a zipper-like fracture line atop the growing lava dome in the crater of the southwest Washington volcano.

"It was interesting enough to take some pictures," Pallister told The Columbian newspaper of the Sunday flight.

After landing, he learned that a 2.9-magnitude earthquake had registered on seismographs at the observatory in Vancouver. That was followed by a small tremor that lasted nearly an hour and a half, an unusually long period, punctuated by a second quake of 2.7 magnitude — all in the same period in which he saw the steam.

Along with the shake, rattle and roll, tiltmeters registered alternate ground swelling and deflation near the lava dome, which has been growing in the crater since the fall of 2004.

All are typical signs that magma, superheated gases or both are moving through conduits beneath St. Helens, which blew its top with devastating force on May 18, 1980, leveling 230 square miles of forest and killing 57 people.

The last noteworthy tremor at the volcano lasted 55 minutes on Oct. 2, 2004, and was much more powerful, registering on seismometers from Bend, Ore., to Bellingham and causing a hasty evacuation of the Johnston Ridge Observatory five miles north of the crater.

No evacuations have been ordered this time — seismic activity had slowed down since the episode Sunday and the likelihood of a major eruption seemed low. Hydrologist Carolyn Driedger said Wednesday that scientists were taking advantage of some clear weather to check on the equipment that monitors the volcano 24 hours a day and make some minor repairs.

Cynthia A. Gardner, scientist in charge of the volcano observatory, said that scientists had quit venturing into the crater. The equipment checks are being done on the flanks of the crater, outside the area where the new dome is growing.

"We're just being cautious. It's not that we're anticipating any activity," Gardner said Wednesday.

She said the precise cause of the recent activity was not entirely clear.

"The settling of the growing lava dome might have caused some fracturing and might have changed the subsurface openings so that water was either being squeezed out of openings or opening new areas," Gardner said Tuesday.

The last precise measurements, drawn from images in July, indicated the latest eruptive phase has pumped 123 million cubic yards of material into the crater. The rate has slowed considerably, but the episode Sunday showed that could change at any time, Pallister said.

"Rumors of an early end of this eruption are once again shown not to be the case," he said. "It's still got some surprises."
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