Yellowstone supervolcano 'even more colossal'

[xchrom]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25312674


Hot springs are surface evidence of the huge magma chamber that sits beneath Yellowstone


The supervolcano that lies beneath Yellowstone National Park in the US is far larger than was previously thought, scientists report.

A study shows that the magma chamber is about 2.5 times bigger than earlier estimates suggested.

A team found the cavern stretches for more than 90km (55 miles) and contains 200-600 cubic km of molten rock.

The findings are being presented at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in San Francisco.

[Tansy_Gold]

1. You're just....

...chock full of cheery news this morning, aren't you? Fires in Detroit, supervolcanoes in Yellowstone.

Have a nice day!

[xchrom]

3. just call me Miss Happy GoLucky

[southmost]

4. <3 this pic made my day

[Tansy_Gold]

32. You've been peeking....

... in my bedroom window and takin' pictures!

[xchrom]

33. !

i think of it as inspiration.

[phantom power]

2. more colossal than expected

[SunSeeker]

5. Dayum. If it blew, half the U.S. would be covered in ash. nt

[MynameisBlarney]

8. Half the U.S.?

I'd say the majority of the hemisphere.

[SunSeeker]

25. Probably.

I know I'd be toast here in California. I remember watching a documentary on the Caldera a few years back. They found ash/rock here they identified as having come from the Caldera the last time it blew.

[tavalon]

12. Actually, if it blew, we would no longer have to worry about global climate change

or what to wear to work tomorrow. The Caldera blows and even Mother Gaia won't survive it. She'll survive global climate change but this would be the end of the earth. Ergo, pointless to talk about because it will happen or not whenever and then poof, life on earth is over.

[MynameisBlarney]

17. No, not the end of the Earth.

Just most of the life on the planet would die.

[MNBrewer]

18. It's blown before, she survived.

We wouldn't, but we won't anyway.

[tavalon]

20. Good point. I'm glad. Earth is beautiful

We have despoiled it and need to go.

[OnlinePoker]

36. Pockets of humanity would

The volcano last blew 640,000 years ago and proto-humans managed to survive. What wouldn't survive very well is the global system of trade and industrial commerce. One advantage we have that proto-humans didn't is our knowledge base. Information about just about everything is global in nature so if one zone gets wiped out, others could carry on (with difficulty to be sure).

[Hestia]

22. Back when Nat'l Geographic was doing real documentaries and not reality shows, they had a special

on what did happen in the past and what would happen when the caldera blows.

1 - There is a bottleneck in human population about that same time. Scientists concluded that caldera killed a lot of people and we all are descended from the survivors of that time. It was so interesting to see the graphs about it. They had concluded that there was X number of people (I think several million people on earth at that time) and how many were left after the caldera blew - less than 500k.

2 - The ash alone would kill people, all the way to the Mississippi River. It would alter geography and weather patterns in the East/Northeast of the US.

[I hate the Nat Geo tag; I know it makes life easier to get to their site but puh-lease...]

[jamejest]

6. To look on the bright side

if that baby blows the amount of ash it will discharge into the atmosphere should negate global warming and allow us to reset one of
the clocks ticking on human extinction.

[MynameisBlarney]

9. I am pretty sure

It will be an Extinction Level Event.

[tavalon]

14. Yes, I'm fairly sure you are correct

What a way to go, huh?

An Ellie, like in the movie, which one was it, the half decent one or the craptastic one about a meteor about to hit the earth. Never can remember?

[MynameisBlarney]

21. I can't remember either, lol

I do remember something about "Unobtanium" being the key to some sort of plan...or something.

[dbackjon]

27. That was "Avatar"

[MynameisBlarney]

30. It was used in Avatar

But there was a movie years before that was universally panned by critics and viewers alike.
Someone designed a subterranean drill that was to reach the earths core for some stupid reason...and the only metal that could withstand the pressure, heat and bullshit hollywood writers was called "Unobtanium".
If I remember correctly.

[MynameisBlarney]

31. Ah yes...I remember now.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0298814/

Horrible movie.

[dbackjon]

26. Deep Impact, starring Tea Leoni, Morgan Freeman, etc

That was the good movie about the meteor.


Armaggedeon was the craptastic one (IMHO)

[tavalon]

41. Your opinion and mine coincide

Armageddon was the craptastic one and Deep Impact, much better all around.

[On the Road]

34. If The Last One Didn't Kill Homo Sapiens,

why would the next one? Especially since there are more humans in more places on earth, better shielded from the elements and with much better technology.

[MynameisBlarney]

35. It probably won't

there are far too many of us.

But an "E.L.E." doesn't technically mean every last life form is gone. I could be wrong though. *shrugs*
Either way, it won't be very fun.

[tavalon]

42. Nope, the roaches will likely survive

I hate roaches but we have done far more damage to the earth than they have, so I guess they can have it.

[kestrel91316]

11. The atmospheric ash wouldn't be what saves the planet.

The ash falling on North America and wiping out civilization here is what will do it, since we are the ones doing the most to heat up the atmosphere.

The "nuclear winter" effect would just be an added bonus for Earth.

[2naSalit]

7. People are just finding this out now?

These guys produced this evidence over three years ago... maybe they were just making a public presentation about it and maybe it just got published... it can take years for the peer review.

When this one goes, there's no running fast enough of far enough away.







it's gonna leave a mark.

[theHandpuppet]

40. Here's a site I have bookmarked

http://www.seis.utah.edu/req2webdir/recenteqs/

Small earthquakes happen constantly at Yellowstone; however, once in a while there's an earthquake swarm (the last one happened in Sept., as I recall) and those make me a wee bit nervous.

[2naSalit]

43. I know

I can see the park from my dwelling (about five miles from here) and I feel a lot of the quakes, including those from the most recent swarms and from a few years ago, whenever that was. We had several just outside the park a couple weeks ago too. When you live on top of something like that, it's something you notice when the ground starts to move. And for anyone who's geologically aware, the fact that our black sands (many of our dirt roads and sand near springs) are actually obsidian... it is hard to not consider it from time to time... thus my claim that there's no way to run from this one if it decides to go rapidly. I live right on top of it so I get it, knew it when I moved here.

[niyad]

10. okayyyyyy--so this thing is twice as large as previously thought. and THIS is what happened

the last time it blew:



The last major eruption, which occurred 640,000 years ago, sent ash across the whole of North America, affecting the planet’s climate.

could prove very interesting.

[MFM008]

37. yes

and i want to be ashes BEFORE this happens...

[a la izquierda]

13. Is it going to erupt tomorrow?

Maybe? No?

Then I find this fascinating science…which is saying something because when I first heard about this 13 years ago, it gave me nightmares for months.

[tavalon]

15. It's weird but when something is so big and so inevitable but has no time table,

my circuits blow and I just can't get scared.

[a la izquierda]

19. I think that's it, actually.

I'm more concerned that my neighbors trash can collection might some day topple over and kill me while I'm walking my dogs in the yard. That's far more likely. Or that I might get murdered by a disgruntled college student. That's even more likely (and actually more nerve-wracking). Those things don't even concern me.

That Yellowstone could erupt in my lifetime- no more than 60 years left in all likelihood- would be like winning (or losing, I guess) the geological lottery. I guess I'd hope that by that point, I'd be living in South America.

As long as it doesn't happen before August…I need to see Europe before I die. I don't think that's asking too much of the universe. I've already attained all of my other goals.

[lastlib]

16. On the bright side, it's under the red states.........

(not that it matters--if she blows, we all buy the big ticket to extinction. The ones who didn't die immediately would probably wish they had.)

[bvar22]

23. Where ya gonna go when the Volcano Blow?

I'm making an asbestos surf board,
and plan on riding the Lava Wave to Atlantis.

[MuseRider]

29. Don't hang 10

or something like that!

[lumberjack_jeff]

38. Don't wanna land on no Three Mile Island... don't wanna see my skin aglow!

[madokie]

44. Jimmy Buffet rules

[pscot]

24. I'm glad I don't

live downwind.

[liberal N proud]

28. That should be one hell of a show when she blows

[Kablooie]

39. If you want to get a feel of what it may be like when it blows...

Check out Ashfall by Mike Mullin.
It's a young adult novel set in the aftermath of Yellowstone exploding and is pretty stressful.

It's a trilogy. The second novel isn't quite as good but still interesting.
He's still working on the final one.