Hang on to your hats folks-rapidly inflating volcano

[hobbit709]

http://news.yahoo.com/rapidly-inflating-volcano-creates-growing-mystery-142805969.html

Uturuncu is a nearly 20,000-foot-high (6,000 meters) volcano in southwest Bolivia. Scientists recently discovered the volcano is inflating with astonishing speed.

Researchers realized about five years ago that the area below and around Uturuncu is steadily rising — blowing up like a giant balloon under a wide disc of land some 43 miles (70 kilometers) across. Satellite data revealed the region was inflating by 1 to 2 centimeters (less than an inch) per year and had been doing so for at least 20 years, when satellite observations began.

"It's one of the fastest uplifting volcanic areas on Earth," de Silva told OurAmazingPlanet."What we're trying to do is understand why there is this rapid inflation, and from there we'll try to understand what it's going to lead to."

That's one way to solve the global warming problem.

[MADem]

1. I'd be nervous if I lived near that thing.

When Pinatubo blew, it was a real mess and came on quickly. That one threw crap into the atmosphere that screwed up the ozone layer big-time.

And look what happened with the beautiful island of Montserrat.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

3. I'd be nervous if I lived anywhere on the planet.

Just in time for 2012.

[MADem]

9. Well, how many times has the "Rapture Bus" failed to show up in this century, alone?

I have a feeling that bus doesn't stop here anymore!

[stuntcat]

15. hah!

Rapture Fail :P

well I sure hope!

[Hassin Bin Sober]

18. Well, I don't believe in the rapture. Super volcanoes? That's a different story.

[stuntcat]

14. yah

:hopes:

[RaleighNCDUer]

19. Pinatubo, like St Helens, saw ground swell within a mile of the crater.

This is 43 miles. Sounds more like going into super-volcano territory, and I'd be nervous within a thousand miles of it.

[daggahead]

2. I have a theory ...

"What we're trying to do is understand why there is this rapid inflation, and from there we'll try to understand what it's going to lead to."

I will take a guess --- magma and heat is causing the rapid inflation, and it is leading to an eruption.

So, with m bachelor's degree, have I just one-upped a PhD? :silly:

In all seriousness, though, I hope the folks in this part of Bolivia are safe, and will be able to safely evacuate in case there is an eruption.

[TwilightGardener]

4. I think the reason for the uplift is pretty clear. Are they really scratching their heads?

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. They are as to the speed, not the why.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

20. yes. It's 'bigger' than anything they've seen so far

and it's happening faster than they've ever seen

from the Abstract
Using satellite-based InSAR data, a 45 km wide elongated area of ground deformation was observed in the Lazufre volcanic region (Chile), where no deformation was detected 10 years ago. The deformation signal shows an uplift of up to ~ 3 cm yr− 1 during 2003–2006, affecting an area of about 1100 km2, comparable in size to super-volcanoes such as Yellowstone or Long Valley. This deformation signal can be explained by an inflating magma body at about 10 km depth, expanding and propagating laterally at a velocity of up to 4 km per year. Although it is not clear whether this intrusion will lead to an eruption, its dimensions and the rapid deformation rate insinuate that a potentially large volcanic system is forming.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377027308000905

[spin]

6. I don't know where I'm a gonna go when the volcano blow...

Now, I don't know, I don't know where I'm a gonna go
when the volcano blow.
Let me say it now,
I don't know, I don't know where I'm a gonna go
when the volcano blow.

Ground, she movin' under me.
Tidal waves out on the sea.
Sulphur smoke up in the sky.
Pretty soon we learn to fly


Let me hear you, now
I don't know, I don't know where I'm a gonna go
when the volcano blow.
Let me hear you now.
I don't know, I don't know where I'm a gonna go
when the volcano blow.

My girl quickly say to me,
"Mon you better watch your feet."
Lava come down soft and hot.
"You better lava me now or lava me not.

Jimmy Buffett Lyrics" Volcano "

http://www.lyricstime.com/jimmy-buffett-volcano-lyrics.html

[redqueen]

7. Intersting stuff, thanks. (nt)

[eShirl]

8. This thing is the highest peak in Bolivia... ever play with a pop-gun as a kid?

Last known eruption was during the Pleistocene Era.
http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=1505076A

[FarCenter]

17. Interesting, but it doesn't appear to be the explosive type of volcano

More the mountain building lava oozing out type, than the type that has pyroclastic flows and blows up the mountain.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

21. no, it's a stratovolcano...

just like Krakatoa and Vesuvius

[caledesi]

10. Be afraid. Be very afaid! n/t

[JVS]

11. Woohoo!

[mainer]

12. Howard Camping was off by just a few weeks...

Here ya go, Howard!

[kestrel91316]

13. Volcano + land uplifting = puzzled scientists? Seriously?

Where's my head-scratching, puzzled smilie??

[redqueen]

16. The Scientists aren't confused, they're investigating.

"De Silva said the geological detective team is working to combine data from a number of sources — seismic data, GPS data, even minute variations in gravity — to pin down when and why the mountain awoke from its 300,000-year-long slumber, and better predict its next big move."

Emphasis mine, to try to alleviate some of the confusion about the so-called confusion.

[Schema Thing]

22. It's fracking in Texas; next.

[hobbit709]

23. I'd rather deal with fracking than a supervolcano eruption.

The last one to go off 74,000 years ago just about wiped the human race.