View Full Version : Yellowstone supervolcano 'even more colossal'
mick silver
18th December 2013, 05:52 AM
Yellowstone supervolcano 'even more colossal'http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/67519000/jpg/_67519948_becky_photo.jpgBy Rebecca MorelleScience reporter, BBC World Servicehttp://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/71663000/jpg/_71663871_115452357.jpgHot springs are surface evidence of the huge magma chamber that sits beneath Yellowstone
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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 (http://fallmeeting.agu.org/2013/) in San Francisco.
Prof Bob Smith, from the University of Utah, said: “We’ve been working there for a long time, and we’ve always thought it would be bigger... but this finding is astounding."
If the Yellowstone supervolcano were to blow today, the consequences would be catastrophic.
The last major eruption, which occurred 640,000 years ago, sent ash across the whole of North America, affecting the planet’s climate.
Now researchers believe they have a better idea of what lies beneath the ground.
The team used a network of seismometers that were situated around the park to map the magma chamber.
Dr Jamie Farrell, from the University of Utah, explained: “We record earthquakes in and around Yellowstone, and we measure the seismic waves as they travel through the ground.
“The waves travel slower through hot and partially molten material… with this, we can measure what’s beneath.”
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/71663000/jpg/_71663826_whatsubject.jpgIt is unclear when the Yellowstone supervolcano will erupt again
The team found that the magma chamber was colossal. Reaching depths of between 2km and 15km (1 to 9 miles), the cavern was about 90km (55 miles) long and 30km (20 miles) wide.
It pushed further into the north east of the park than other studies had previously shown, holding a mixture of solid and molten rock.
“To our knowledge there has been nothing mapped of that size before,” added Dr Farrell.
The researchers are using the findings to better assess the threat that the volatile giant poses.
“Yes, it is a much larger system… but I don’t think it makes the Yellowstone hazard greater,” explained Prof Bob Smith.
“But what it does tell us is more about the area to the north east of the caldera.”
He added that researchers were unsure when the supervolcano would blow again.
Some believe a massive eruption is overdue, estimating that Yellowstone’s volcano goes off every 700,000 years or so.
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/71674000/jpg/_71674239_115031402.jpgThe National Park is a biodiversity hotspot in the continental United States
But Prof Smith said more data was needed, because there had only been three major eruptions so far. These happened 2.1 million years ago, 1.3 million years ago and 640,000 years ago.
“You can only use the time between eruptions (to work out the frequency), so in a sense you only have two numbers to get to that 700,000 year figure,” he explained.
“How many people would buy something on the stock market on two days of stock data.”
In another study presented at the AGU Fall Meeting, researchers have been looking at other, more ancient volcanic eruptions that happened along the same stretch of continental plate that Yellowstone’s supervolcano sits on.
Dr Marc Reichow, from the University of Leicester, said: “We looked at a time window of between 12.5 to 8 million years ago. We wanted to know how to identify these eruptions and find out how frequently they happened.”
The team found there were fewer volcanic events during this period than had been estimated, but these eruptions were far larger than was previously thought.
Dr Reichow added: “If you look at older volcanoes, it helps to understand what Yellowstone is likely to do.”
Follow Rebecca on Twitter (http://twitter.com/rebeccamorelle)
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13 APRIL 2011, SCIENCE &
Dogman
18th December 2013, 06:28 AM
We are doomed, it is just a matter of when the hammer falls! When (not if) Yellowstone uncorks those that live in the surrounding states can kiss their ass's goodbye. The closer the states are to that monster down wind of it, the kill offs will be sooner than later than the ones further away from it. It would be questionable if this country would ever recover in several lifetimes.
vacuum
27th March 2016, 12:34 AM
They're finding new eruptions, which are large and more frequent than thought.
Yellowstone supervolcano eruptions were even bigger than we thought
Yellowstone's geysers and hotpots are 'just the latest in a protracted history of numerous catastrophic super-eruptions that have burned a track along the Snake River eastwards from Oregon to Yellowstone,' says UK geologist.
By Christina Beck, Staff (http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2016/0326/Yellowstone-supervolcano-eruptions-were-even-bigger-than-we-thought#) March 26, 2016
http://images.csmonitor.com/csm/2016/03/972521_1_0326-snake-river_standard.jpg?alias=standard_600x400
A recent study (http://gsabulletin.gsapubs.org/content/early/2016/02/10/B31324.1.1.full.pdf+html) published in the Geological Society of America Bulletin identifies an area of great volcanic activity along the Snake River Plain between Oregon and Yellowstone.
While scientists have long known that the supervolcano now under Yellowstone left a trail of mega-eruptions across the Pacific Northwest, an international research team has found evidence of only 12 distinct eruptions, contradicting earlier theories that the eruptions were more numerous and less extreme.
“The size and magnitude of this newly defined eruption is as large, if not larger, than better known eruptions at Yellowstone,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Thomas Knott, in a University of Leicester press release (http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/press/press-releases/2016/march/ancient-super-eruptions-in-yellowstone-hotspot-track-2018significantly-larger2019-than-expected-research-shows), “and it is just the first in an emerging record of newly discovered super-eruptions during a period of intense magmatic activity between 8 and 12 million years ago.”
Scientists used paleomagnetic data, radioisotope dating, and rock and mineral chemistries to identify the size and location of these ancient eruptions.
One eruption, called the Castleford Crossing eruption, produced a volcanic sheet that covers approximately 14,000 square kilometers – an area the size of Connecticut – in southern Idaho.
Knott and his team identified 11 other super explosions that they say were likely similar in size to the well known, massive super explosions at Yellowstone.
“While it is well-known that Yellowstone has erupted catastrophically in recent times,” said Knott, “perhaps less widely appreciated is that these were just the latest in a protracted history of numerous catastrophic super-eruptions that have burned a track along the Snake River eastwards from Oregon to Yellowstone.”
Yellowstone certainly remains volcanically lively. In 2013, a study found that Yellowstone’s “supervolcano” was even larger than scientists had previously believed (http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2013/1216/Yellowstone-supervolcano-2.5-times-bigger-than-anyone-knew), with a magma chamber stretching 55 miles long, and 18 miles wide.
If the Yellowstone supervolcano explodes, says the 2013 study, the resulting eruption could be up to 2,000 times as violent as the Mt. St. Helens eruption several decades ago.
In the spring of 2015, scientists discovered an even deeper magma chamber (http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2015/0424/Scientists-find-huge-magma-reservoir-in-Yellowstone-supervolcano-video).
The last Yellowstone eruption occurred 640,000 years ago – a blink of an eye in the geologic time scale, compared to the Snake River Plain explosions 8 to 12 million years ago – some remain concerned that this destructive supervolcano is ripe for an eruption.
"Three super-eruptions at Yellowstone appear to have occurred on a 600,000-700,000 year cycle starting 2.1 million years ago," explains the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/supervolcano/article.shtml). "The most recent took place 640,000 years ago – suggesting Yellowstone is overdue for an eruption."
This new study, with evidence of 12 volcanoes in about 3 million years, suggests that the Yellowstone supervolcano can erupt catastrophically on a much shorter cycle of about every 250,000 years
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2016/0326/Yellowstone-supervolcano-eruptions-were-even-bigger-than-we-thought
Joshua01
27th March 2016, 07:15 AM
Just blow the fuck up already !
Shami-Amourae
27th March 2016, 08:08 AM
Just blow the fuck up already !
The chances of it blowing in our lifetimes is virtually zero though. Our lifetimes are just a blip in geological time.
I live where the Yellowstone Caldera used to be. There's volcanic rock everywhere. It created some of the best soil and farming land in the United States.
hoarder
27th March 2016, 08:26 AM
The chances of it blowing in our lifetimes is virtually zero though. Our lifetimes are just a blip in geological time.
I live where the Yellowstone Caldera used to be. There's volcanic rock everywhere. It created some of the best soil and farming land in the United States.Maybe it's not a coincidence that Jews allowed the region surrounding Yellowstone to become a haven of freedom loving White people.
StreetsOfGold
27th March 2016, 08:55 AM
that Jews allowed
Jews "ALLOWED"? huh!?!?
The nation of Israel was not even a nation when (what is now) the USA was being formed. However, the VATICAN WAS (take the hint)
You have been JesuTWITED by Jesuit propaganda, You have "IT'S DA JEWS" disease firmly implanted into YOUR BRAIN, common problem among the "simple"
Proverbs 14:15 The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going.
http://gold-silver.us/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=8132&d=1458143499
Shami-Amourae
27th March 2016, 09:02 AM
Jews "ALLOWED"? huh!?!?
The nation of Israel was not even a nation when (what is now) the USA was being formed. However, the VATICAN WAS (take the hint)
You have been JesuTWITED by Jesuit propaganda, You have "IT'S DA JEWS" disease firmly implanted into YOUR BRAIN, common problem among the "simple"
Proverbs 14:15 The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going.
http://gold-silver.us/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=8132&d=1458143499
http://archive.4plebs.org/pol/thread/68893990
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVjHt13RJ9A
Are you finally ready to let go of your hatred of Catholics now? They clearly love Nigger feet, unlike Hitler.
http://img.4plebs.org/boards/pol/image/1458/85/1458855540960.jpg
Glass
4th April 2016, 12:32 AM
I don't think Yellowstone will blow. If anything it will sink some amount if anything major happens elsewhre. I believe it is the global pressure relief valve for the magma flows. Given the huge (YUGE) surface area it can distribute/dissipate the magma force over a very large area.
Neuro
4th April 2016, 01:40 AM
I don't think Yellowstone will blow. If anything it will sink some amount if anything major happens elsewhre. I believe it is the global pressure relief valve for the magma flows. Given the huge (YUGE) surface area it can distribute/dissipate the magma force over a very large area.
Good thinking! Maybe it blows when a giant meteor strikes earth? Or when if Planet X/whatever passes close by!
monty
20th August 2017, 05:38 AM
From SHTFPlan, NASA's Risky Plan
NASA’S Risky Plan To Save Us From Yellowstone Could Trigger A Massive Eruption
(http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/nasas-risky-plan-to-save-us-from-yellowstone_08192017)
http://i0.wp.com/shtfplan.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/yellowstone-1400-0.jpg?resize=560%2C319
Government officials have been closely monitoring the activity in the Yellowstone caldera. However, scientists at NASA have now come up with an incredibly risky plan to save the United States from the super volcano.
A NASA scientist has spoken out (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4803246/NASA-reveals-risky-plan-COOL-Yellowstone.html) about the true threat of super volcanoes (http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/snyder-warns-a-full-blown-eruption-of-the-yellowstone-supervolcano-would-have-the-potential-of-being-an-extinction-level-event_06192017) and the risky methods that could be used to prevent a devastating eruption. Lying beneath the tranquil and beautiful settings of Yellowstone National Park (http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/montana-earthquake-increased-super-volcano-eruption-concerns_07062017)in the US lies an enormous magma chamber, called a caldera. (https://www.yellowstonepark.com/things-to-do/yellowstone-supervolcano) It’s responsible for the geysers and hot springs that define the area, but for scientists at NASA, it’s also one of the greatest natural threats to human civilization (http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/russian-analyst-calls-for-nuclear-attack-on-yellowstone-national-park_03312015) as we know it.
Brian Wilcox, a former member of the NASA Advisory Council on Planetary Defense (https://www.nasa.gov/planetarydefense/overview/), shared a report on the natural hazard that hadn’t been seen outside of the agency until now. Following an article published by BBC about super volcanoes last month (http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170724-would-a-supervolcano-eruption-wipe-us-out), a group of NASA researchers got in touch with the media to share a report previously unseen outside the space agency about the threat Yellowstone poses, and what they hypothesize could possibly be done about it.
“I was a member of the NASA Advisory Council on Planetary Defense which studied ways for NASA to defend the planet from asteroids and comets,” explains Brian Wilcox of Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) at the California Institute of Technology. (https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/)“I came to the conclusion during that study that the supervolcano threat is substantially greater than the asteroid or comet threat.”
Yellowstone currently leaks about 60 to 70 percent of its heat into the atmosphere through stream water which seeps into the magma chamber through cracks, while the rest of the heat builds up as magma and dissolves into volatile gasses. The heat and pressure will reach the threshold, meaning an explosion is inevitable. When NASA scientists considered the fact that a super volcano’s eruption (http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170817-nasas-ambitious-plan-to-save-earth-from-a-supervolcano)would plunge the earth into a volcanic winter, destroying most sources of food, starvation would then become a real possibility. Food reserves would only last about 74 days, according to the UN (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4803246/NASA-reveals-risky-plan-COOL-Yellowstone.html), after an eruption of a super volcano, like that under Yellowstone. And they have devised a risky plan that could end up blowing up in their faces. Literally.
Wilcox hypothesized that if enough heat was removed, and the temperature of the super volcano dropped, it would never erupt. But he wants to see a 35% decrease in temperature, and how to achieve that, is incredibly risky. One possibility is to simply increase the amount of water in the supervolcano. As it turns to steam. the water would release the heat into the atmosphere, making global warming alarmists (http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/research-team-slams-global-warming-data-in-new-report-not-a-valid-representation-of-reality-totally-inconsistent-with-credible-temperature-data_07142017) tremble.
“Building a big aqueduct uphill into a mountainous region would be both costly and difficult, and people don’t want their water spent that way,” Wilcox says. “People are desperate for water all over the world and so a major infrastructure project, where the only way the water is used is to cool down a supervolcano, would be very controversial.”
So, NASA came up with an alternative plan. They believe the most viable solution could be to drill up to 10km down into the super volcano and pump down water at high pressure. (http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170817-nasas-ambitious-plan-to-save-earth-from-a-supervolcano)The circulating water would return at a temperature of around 350C (662F), thus slowly day by day extracting heat from the volcano. And while such a project would come at an estimated cost of around $3.46 billion, it comes with an enticing catch which could convince politicians (taxpayers) to make the investment.
“Yellowstone currently leaks around 6GW in heat,” Wilcox says. “Through drilling in this way, it could be used to create a geothermal plant, which generates electric power at extremely competitive prices of around $0.10/kWh. You would have to give the geothermal companies incentives to drill somewhat deeper and use hotter water than they usually would, but you would pay back your initial investment, and get electricity which can power the surrounding area for a period of potentially tens of thousands of years. And the long-term benefit is that you prevent a future supervolcano eruption which would devastate humanity.”
Of course, drilling into a super volcano comes with its own risks (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4803246/NASA-reveals-risky-plan-COOL-Yellowstone.html), like the eruption that scientists are desperate to prevent. Triggering an eruption by drilling would be disastrous.
“The most important thing with this is to do no harm,” Wilcox says. “If you drill into the top of the magma chamber and try and cool it from there, this would be very risky. This could make the cap over the magma chamber more brittle and prone to fracture. And you might trigger the release of harmful volatile gases in the magma at the top of the chamber which would otherwise not be released.”
The cooling of Yellowstone in this manner would also take tens of thousands of years, but it is a plan that scientists at NASA are considering for every super volcano on earth.
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osoab
20th August 2017, 07:01 AM
Seems like .gov needs energy for a large population. Chinese moving in?
Joshua01
20th August 2017, 07:17 AM
Silly fucking humans!
Jewboo
16th November 2018, 08:17 AM
https://media.giphy.com/media/HDlmcbSNcm2Fq/giphy.gif
Bigjon
16th November 2018, 08:31 AM
There is a simple solution to Yellowstone volcano. James McCanney has been calling for draining lake Yellowstone for the last ten years. The main cause of volcanic eruptions is the lake that forms in the caldera. It then finds a path to the central core magma and becomes the fuel for the largest steam engine in the world.
Just drain the damn lake. The morons from the universities can't figure this out!
Horn
16th November 2018, 11:29 AM
You All! Should've listened to Kevin Costner in Waterworld and grew webbed toes.
Neuro
16th November 2018, 05:49 PM
You All! Should've listened to Kevin Costner in Waterworld and grew webbed toes.
It is the only movie where I decided to leave the theater long before the end. I got to see another film instead, but I don’t remember which one, but it was certainly better. I remember waterworld though, the first 30-40 minutes.
Neuro
16th November 2018, 05:53 PM
There is a simple solution to Yellowstone volcano. James McCanney has been calling for draining lake Yellowstone for the last ten years. The main cause of volcanic eruptions is the lake that forms in the caldera. It then finds a path to the central core magma and becomes the fuel for the largest steam engine in the world.
Just drain the damn lake. The morons from the universities can't figure this out!
Perhaps it’s that simple, but perhaps in the long run it is better if 100% of population in North America is wiped out and 99% of the population elsewhere. I suspect it is... The university morons will definitely be gone!
Horn
16th November 2018, 10:53 PM
It is the only movie where I decided to leave the theater long before the end. I got to see another film instead, but I don’t remember which one, but it was certainly better. I remember waterworld though, the first 30-40 minutes.
I liked looking at his female companion in that, not sure what it was about her eyes?
the bungie jump at the end simply could not be done anymore in hollywood.
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