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Beneath Yellowstone, a volcano that could wipe out the US.

Perotista said:
There has been many documentaries on this super volcano on the History and Discovery channels. According to them this thing has erupted at least 3 times in the past. According to these docu's, seismologist are closely watching one end of Yellowstone lake as it rises and falls. They said at one point around then years ago that end had risen 3 feet and left portions of the lake bed dry, but has since shrunk some.

This is an indication of lava accumulating according them them. If this thing explodes once around every 700,000 years, we may be closer than we think to another super eruption, according to the docu's the last one occurred around 650,000 years ago.
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Since those time frames are very approximate, that means "anytime now."

The effect of it blowing would be significant. The shock waves could, for example, also cause massive earthquakes in California too. The most likely greatest damage would be all the ash it'd throw into the atmosphere. Things would get real cold real fast worldwide.
 
joko104 said:
Since those time frames are very approximate, that means "anytime now."

The effect of it blowing would be significant. The shock waves could, for example, also cause massive earthquakes in California too. The most likely greatest damage would be all the ash it'd throw into the atmosphere. Things would get real cold real fast worldwide.
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I have watched several of these docu's on the history channel, all I can see you need to watch one of them to understand the effects. It would be world wide. Ash 100's of feet tall around the volcano, California probably a few feet worth and ash they said at least 6 inches deep in Washington D.C. No farm land available and once all that ash gets into the atmosphere it would travel around the world and block out the sun. Sort of like a nuclear winter for around 10-20 years global wide. I think if it blew while I was alive, I just as soon be standing right next to old faithful and have nothing to worry about the aftermath.
 
Perotista said:
Didn't you mean 50,000 years instead of 500,000? if the eruptions occur approximately every 700,000 years and they were at 2.1 million, 1.3 million and 640,000 years ago, it does seem we are close to being in the time frame of another.
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Yes, I did. Thanks Pero.
 
Perotista said:
I have watched several of these docu's on the history channel, all I can see you need to watch one of them to understand the effects. It would be world wide. Ash 100's of feet tall around the volcano, California probably a few feet worth and ash they said at least 6 inches deep in Washington D.C. No farm land available and once all that ash gets into the atmosphere it would travel around the world and block out the sun. Sort of like a nuclear winter for around 10-20 years global wide. I think if it blew while I was alive, I just as soon be standing right next to old faithful and have nothing to worry about the aftermath.
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Stock up on flashlights. :lol:
 
So you all can keep score at home, the eruption of the caldera is preceded by a slow inflation of the magma bubble that eventually reaches a point where the earth cracks open and then collapses, spewing the magma and ash. The current belief is that the elasticity of the mantle above the caldera is such that the rising dome (it is rising a few inches a year) will reach an elevation of about 1 mile higher than its current position before the ground cracks under the stress.

So... 1ft of elevation takes ~ 4 years so 1 mile elevation rise will take ~ 21,000 years, give or take. There will be plenty of warning.
 
There are six known supervolcanos worldwide. Not to mention the Ring of Fire which could see multiple volcanoes erupting. We do have a better sense of what is happening with Yellowstone warning wise these days. We've developed tech that allows us to see the size, shape and movement of the magma chamber below.

And then there are precipatating events, like the geomagnetic reversal. Our electromagnetic field reverses from time to time. In the past this has happenned roughly every 450,000 years or so, but it's been 780,000 years since the last one (though we had a minor one 40,000 years ago). We are a tad overdue. This could easily cause one or more of the supervolcanos or the Ring of Fire to erupt.
 
Montecresto said:
But it will be 500,000 years before it erupts so not to worry.


A team from the University of Utah have told the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in San Francisco that Yellowstone’s magama chamber is 2.5 times larger than previously thought.
It is an underground cavern measuring some 55 miles by 20 miles and containing between 125 and 185 billion cubic miles of molten rock.
If it blows it will wipe out America – and have enormous impacts on the rest of the world.
The university researchers described their discovery as “astounding.”


Beneath Yellowstone, a volcano that could wipe out U.S. | New York Post
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Old news and it will be the planet that is wiped out. Also it is due for an eruption, not 500k years from now. Guessing the NYPost is having a slow bash Obama day...
 
Montecresto said:
But it will be 500,000 years before it erupts so not to worry.


A team from the University of Utah have told the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in San Francisco that Yellowstone’s magama chamber is 2.5 times larger than previously thought.
It is an underground cavern measuring some 55 miles by 20 miles and containing between 125 and 185 billion cubic miles of molten rock.
If it blows it will wipe out America – and have enormous impacts on the rest of the world.
The university researchers described their discovery as “astounding.”


Beneath Yellowstone, a volcano that could wipe out U.S. | New York Post
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Actually, that is one of several supervolcano calderas that exist in the world. Any one of them could be a major problem, not only for the regions they are located in, but for the world in general. Think nuclear winter here.
 
Declining underground mine insurance? Good idea.
Declining liquid hot magma insurance? Maybe not the right call.
 
PeteEU said:
Old news and it will be the planet that is wiped out. Also it is due for an eruption, not 500k years from now. Guessing the NYPost is having a slow bash Obama day...
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Geological time eventually meets historical time. And I wouldn't put much stock in that 500k figure, could easily happen tomorrow we're finding out. There are certain crystaline conditions that form presaging an imminent eruption (in historical time). Studies are being actively done now on Yellowstone because the magma chamber has been acting 'wonky'.
 
Montecresto said:
But it will be 500,000 years before it erupts so not to worry.


A team from the University of Utah have told the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in San Francisco that Yellowstone’s magama chamber is 2.5 times larger than previously thought.
It is an underground cavern measuring some 55 miles by 20 miles and containing between 125 and 185 billion cubic miles of molten rock.
Click to expand...
If it blows it will wipe out America – and have enormous impacts on the rest of the world.
The university researchers described their discovery as “astounding.”


Beneath Yellowstone, a volcano that could wipe out U.S. | New York Post
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Somebody might want to check the math on this.
 
Montecresto said:
Sorry shrub, that has already been pointed out. Of course it was to be 50,000 years.
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He's referring to the volume of rock. That math would require that the depth of the Yellowstone magma extend through the earth out to, like, mars or something.
 
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Right you are Brother Pero on the 640,000 year number--which we are overdue on..These experts should check on why Lake Yellowstone is rising, due to a build-up at the bottom..If you have access to web-cams, Mount Washburn is pretty cool..nps.gov is awesome..And as I mentioned in the past, all the roads in Yellowstoned are newly constructed, making Yellowstone/Grand Titons the best we have .
Perotista said:
Didn't you mean 50,000 years instead of 500,000? if the eruptions occur approximately every 700,000 years and they were at 2.1 million, 1.3 million and 640,000 years ago, it does seem we are close to being in the time frame of another.
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NIMBY said:
Right you are Brother Pero on the 640,000 year number--which we are overdue on..These experts should check on why Lake Yellowstone is rising, due to a build-up at the bottom..If you have access to web-cams, Mount Washburn is pretty cool..nps.gov is awesome..And as I mentioned in the past, all the roads in Yellowstoned are newly constructed, making Yellowstone/Grand Titons the best we have .
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Howdy, I mentioned Lake Yellowstone in one of my post on this threat earlier.
 
I saw a documentary years ago on the Yellowstone super magma volcano.

Some say that it could reduce the population of the earth to somewhere around 5,000 people.
 
danarhea said:
Actually, that is one of several supervolcano calderas that exist in the world. Any one of them could be a major problem, not only for the regions they are located in, but for the world in general. Think nuclear winter here.
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The wonderful Bill Bryson wrote a book titled A Brief History of Nearly Everything in which this is a partial quote.

Bill Bryson | Schreibe's Blog
 
Deuce said:
He's referring to the volume of rock. That math would require that the depth of the Yellowstone magma extend through the earth out to, like, mars or something.
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Oops, too funny. Thanks.
 
d0gbreath said:
I saw a documentary years ago on the Yellowstone super magma volcano.

Some say that it could reduce the population of the earth to somewhere around 5,000 people.
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Not very good odds is that.
 
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