by Pleasuredome 19 Replies latest jw friends
Hmmmm, I heard the same thing as Sirius.........that it was a gigantic caldera filled with molten lava and that if it blew it would basically take out most of the USA.........where did I hear this.............on Discovery Channel.................so, I guess they were wrong? Boy, the sensationalism in every aspect of our press/TV just makes me sick!
Terri
http://science.slashdot.org/science/04/03/10/2348256.shtml
edited to make link "clickable" - Scully
Hopefully will put everyone at ease... When I heard I sent an email in to Yellowstone to inquire... here is the reply:
There have been some relatively small hydrothermal disturbances at
Yellowstone lately that had local effects. We have no reason to suspect
that anything is building toward a volcanic eruption in the next few years
(or centuries, for that matter). It is certainly possible that Yellowstone
can become volcanically active again, and it is likely if you consider
timescales of 10,000 to 100,000 years. If our monitoring systems show any
information that an eruption is becoming more likely, you can be sure that
we will inform that Park and the public! It's our job. Until that time,
most of the information in the press is uninformed speculation, and to some
degree wishful thinking by "disaster specialists."
Jake Lowenstern
Chief Scientist
Yellowstone Volcano Observatory
http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/yvo/
FMZ
Until that time,
most of the information in the press is uninformed speculation, and to some
degree wishful thinking by "disaster specialists."
Run away, run away! The sky is falling, Armaggedon is coming! The meteorite is going to hit us..........uh oh, there's Halley's Comet................CATASTROPHIC THINKING!!! Hey, anyone want to check out a good book about that subject, Barbara Hand Clow..........."Catastrophobia"
wishful thinking.........WTF? "Oh, the earth is going to explode.........goodie, goodie, goodie!"
I find this whole thing intriguing. I doubt very seriously it will blow in our (or our children's) lifetime. So from that standpoint, this story is much ado about nothing.
However, what is to stop some terrorist nutcase with a suitcase nuke from exploding it over the dome of lava? Would that cause an explosion the type of which is being discussed? Or would it just take a truck full of explosives to do the trick?
Just asking.
Chris
Sure Big Tex. Give the terrorists some more ideas.
As far as I have been able to determine, the anecdote that started this thread - that that the "volcanic bubble" under Yellowstone's basin has raised over 100 feet in the past day and there are indications it is ready to blow - is false.
The movement of this "bubble" - do they mean the dome under the lake, or the magma far below the dome? - would be accompanied by earthquakes. It would not arrive "as a thief in the night," to coin a phrase.
Yet -- an interesting thing about "unimaginable" events is that they remain "unimaginable" up until the very moment they occur.
Did anyone ever thing they would see something as "exotic" as a volcano inside the lower 48 states blowing itself up? What a wacky idea!
Until May 18, 1980... and twenty one times since then.
Did any of us ever think we would see a passenger airliner fly into one of the largest buildings in the world? Why, that would be CRAZY!
Not unitl 9/11/2001, when we saw it happen twice.
Of course we can't imagine yellowstone blowing up during our lifetimes, and we find it hard to imagine that it could blow up anytime in the foreseeable future - the next 10,000 years of so.
Yellowstone has blown up in the past. There is no Cosmic Bomb Squad to defuse the yellowstone hot spot, so we know it is going to blow up again someday. The geological record suggests an interval of about 600K years between explosions. The last explosion was about 600K years ago. The magnitude of those past eruptions exceeds anything in past human experience.
Yes, the "fudge factor" is large - maybe as much as 100K years.
On the other hand, WHAT IF we discovered that the Yellowstone Volcano had erupted INVISIBLY 25 years ago?
Yeah... that's the ticket!
The magma dome under yellowstone is about four miles below the surface.
There is no "backpack" nuclear device capable of penetrating four miles of rock.
For anyone who is worried sick over this... I would be more than willing to sell you a bomb shelter!
I have some volcano repellant that is guaranteed to work. For five dollars (plus shipping), I will send you a bottle. Just rub this on, and I guarantee that Yellowstone won't blow up while you are near it. If the product fails, I will send you your money back.
