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Visitors to Yellowstone National Park in the north-western United States know not to be careless about the bears that roam its pines or the many hissing and sizzling geysers that dot its magnificent landscape. Few ever worry about being blown into space, though.
Startling new geological data published in the journal Science suggests that it might be a good idea for most of us – and certainly those living in the region – to be aware that there is more to Yellowstone than grand vistas and abundant wildlife. The hot springs are a clue to what lies beneath: seething layers of molten magma, super-heated gases and hydrothermal liquids.
“Our best evidence is that the crustal magma chamber is filling with molten rock,” Professor Smith explained. “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.” In other words, something is afoot, but no techniques exist to forecast what comes next. The prediction is easier for single-channel, cone volcanoes. At a caldera such as Yellowstone, the magma could suddenly blow through at any number of locations. “We use the term ‘restless’ to describe these systems.”
And what if the ground at Yellowstone does not start to go down? Well, these calderas, he admits, “occasionally they burp”. Let’s hope the park’s belly-ache resolves itself – such a “burp” would shake half of the planet.
That’s OK. Since the studies come from scientists, half of America won’t even glance up from watching “reality” TV.
29–Eric==of course we should feel comfortable visiting there===Now–should state or local government study this to the point of issuing maps with color coded areas showing the scale of expected destruction on a major eruption???
And based on that map, should any “town” be built in the red area??? Or should like most coastal areas including New Orleans, should the area be left as a natural buffer for where intelligent people live?
As an armchair astronomy enthusiast, friends and relatives often ask me if they should worry about asteroids. I reply, “Probably not. If you’re into worrying about such things, try large volcanic events instead. For instance, in 1815, the Indonesian island of Tambora blew up, throwing 50 cubic kilometers of ash into the stratosphere, which caused some interesting phenomena, like the Hudson River freezing over in July”.
There’s even a book called “Year Without A Summer”. Fascinating read.
As others have pointed out, this is not unique.
Here in California, the “Long Valley Caldera” has been uplifiting similarly for years (it’s east of Yosemite and south of Mono Lake, near Mammoth, CA).
The potential for tremendous eruptions is present, but not at all a sure thing, just one of many ominous things in this world that “could happen”
Simple geophysics: warm up the atmosphere, and the land will warm as well. Adding energy to matter (ie: warming it up) causes expansion. Expansion, on land, causes volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.
Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions kill people and release energy. Volcanic clouds also block sunlight, which further cools the surface (and hence the subsurface).
Oh, a really, really big explosion that utterly screws up the entire planet – well, that would be mostly bad, but some of the results might be good. Every cloud has a silver lining.
Yellowstone blowing up might not be quite as bad as you might think, except in the immediate area around the park, maybe a 100 mile radius.
Look what happened when Mt. St Helens blew. Yes, the immediate area got toasted. The ash that spewed forth to the east (I found ash particles on my mom’s car in Indianapolis a couple days later, believe it or not) increased the fertility of the land it fell on because ash is a fertilizer and a good soil amendment. There were bumper crops the following year where the ash fell.
On the other hand, pick-a-nick baskets might become uncommon at the park for a few years, and Yogi and Boo-Boo might have to move elsewhere.
#36, Contrary to what you suggest, if this caldera does go it will be much bigger than Mt. St. Helens was. If you read the article you would have noticed that Mt. St. Helens took out 240 sq. miles.
Well, these calderas, he admits, “occasionally they burp”. Let’s hope the park’s belly-ache resolves itself – such a “burp” would shake half of the planet.
This is one of those so large and scary it’s incompehensible events. Just like the Azores Islands Tsunami scenerio and the rogue comet/meteor strike, if it ever happens, at minimum, life is never the same again, at most life is over.
So hard to grasp that it’s almost not worth worrying about, since it will happen, and there’s nothing we can do about it.
Yeah, but if all life on the planet were destroyed it would be cool. Especially since we wouldn’t have to worry about dying from global warming anymore.
I’ve been wearing tin foil in my socks to prevent this so no one has to worry. I got it covered.
For those that need a bit of reality…
When St. Helens blew its top…If you check there were 3 other volcanes that POPPED… In the next few years we had record snow and rain AROUND the world. The Dust/dirt/ash went around the world 3-5 times before settling..
NOW figure something LIKE 1000 volcanoes POPPING there tops at the SAME time. THAT is what Yellow stone would be like…ALSO consider that Yellowstone is only 1 of the 6 super volcanoes on this planet. AND 3 of them are IN THE USA.
Yellowstone has blown up many times, and the size of the eruptions have varied enormously. The largest eruptions would throw the planet into another glacial period. The smallest? Well, no one would notice.
Small eruptions are by far the most common.
There is no indication that a catastrophic eruption is likely in the imediate future. Not at Yellowstone.
ECA- Yellowstone, Long Valley, and? I think there’s a few more than just 3 in the US, unless you have some sort of cut off criteria?
http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/supervolcano/supervolcano.html
[img]http://www.solcomhouse.com/worldf.gif[-img]
Sorry there are 7, 3 in North america
http://www.solcomhouse.com/worldf.gif
http://www.solcomhouse.com/laketaupo.htm
http://www.solcomhouse.com/vallegrande.htm
BOTH on the west coast and IN CALIFORNIA…