Any recent updates on this freightening story? The last I heard, Bison and Elk were either dying or becoming paralyzed in regions of the park due to leakage of toxic fumes from below ground. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
It's growing, but it's not going to blow any time soon. Won't be good when it does. I don't think that there is anything really scary happening there right now. I'm sure Bison and Elk have been getting poisone(d) in the area for time out of mind. I'm sure you can find something from a google search if you have enough patience. Or perhaps someone in the know will chime in. Vslayer, Yellowstone is in fact a giant chaldera miles wide. It swells up and blows releasing a lot of ash and whatever into the air. Believe me, when it goes it won't matter where in the world you are. You'll see it. Or at least feel the effects. And I don't know why you'd point him away from this site. I'm sure there are people in here that know a lot about this. The question is do they feel like talking about it. And it may be a Canadian/Australian(Because Porf's going to school there) run site, but the majority of members are Americans (US that is), at least according to the where are you based thread in about the members.
The pattern seems to be .8 million years between the first two, then .65 between the next two, so that kinda says the next one could be any time now. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! But it does say at the end of my cut and paste above that the geologists don't think it'll be anytime soon. So who knows? It's funny how we're always due for whatever catastrophe we study. Catastrophic meteor impact? About due. Ice age? About due. Magnetic pole shift? About due. What a strange time to live in. Maybe we are in the end times... Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! I think Mount Ranier's about due to go off too. That should be fun. Ah, well, such is life. Did you know people once more live on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius? Amazing but true. Maybe they'll get dug up in a few thousand years and marvelled at. Nah, we'll probably dig em up sooner than that. Just have to wait long enough for them to turn into those wonderful ash statues.
There were five ? bison that died due to some gas poisoning this last winter. These critters tend to hang out near the hot springs so they can eat grass that is not buried by snow. I live within about 100 miles of Yellowstone, these rumors of massive fish and critter die outs are false. Got the camping gear loaded and will be driving through Yellowstone in a few hours, should be fun but I don’t expect to see anything unusual (at least for Yellowstone). Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Ive been thinking the same thing for a while now. what is the most unusual thing u've seen at yellowstone ?
Apparently last summer one of the more popular trails at the park had to be closed due to the ground temperature being hot enough to burn the feet through the shoes. Also there has apparently been some relatively minor earthquake activity within the past 12 months. Not sure if this is usual for Yellowstone or not.
Yellowstone is a National Park because you can see unusual things. Hot water geysers and hot springs are unusual (at least for most folks). I’ve spent enough time there that the thermal features are pretty much old hat (still neat though). In the height of the summer it’s pretty common to see people doing dumb things-this is really not unusual but sometimes it can be entertaining. Last year at this time I saw the ice come off of Yellowstone lake-it only took two days-that was unusual just because I had never seen it happen. In the late 70’s-many years before wolfs were introduced into Yellowstone a group of us heard a very distinct howl of a wolf. That was probably most unusual thing I can think of. As for the closure of Norris geyser basin and earthquakes this is pretty normal. Every summer/fall when the ground water begins to get depleted the hot springs heat up-it is a simple matter of not heating as much water so that water that is heated gets hotter. We have been in drought conditions the last few years and I would guess that this might be having an effect also. Yellowstone has always had lots of little earthquakes-the last year has been no exception.
Really, it's not as bad as it seems. When looking at the time scales involved, practically all of human civilization fits within this view. There are some events that occur on a smaller time scale that are often due, such as volcanoes and the like. But this could be attributed to the effect of only noticing those that are. It's like when you get a red car. Suddenly, you see red cars everywhere. One can also see how it took time since the last catastrophes to build up our species and civilization. So these things are inevitable in many ways. Zeaper, You'll have a hell of a view when the caldera blows then, huh? If it blows in your lifetime anyway. I've never been to Yellowstone, I've been through the state before, but never went by close enough to stop by and check it out without diverting from my travels.
The only thing happening at yellowstone is people who know little or nothing about vulcanology are looking up websites and data and drawing wild and misleading conclusions. Yes, Yellowstone probably will blow again, probably in the geological near future. But there's no reason atm to suppose it'll be in the next few hundred years.
Oh, wrong conclusions, huh? Maybe you should read a little further next time. Anything I was saying otherwise was just poking fun and speculation. Or maybe you missed the part where I talked about geologic time scales putting just about all of human civilization within the error variance of any such event? Stop being such a smart-ass and contribute to the thread if you know so much.
Sorry i.n. - just realised my post reads like it was in response to yours. Not the case at all, it was just a generalised comment on the whole 'Is Yellowstone about to blow' discussion on the net Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
It's cool. I think the original question was more about dead deer than imminent explosion anyway. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
It goes to show that, though manmade pollution is undeniably a bad thing and the cause of countless wildlife casualties, the Earth can very well pollute itself. As much as 15% of oil in the oceans comes from natural sources: seeps, sediments, erosion. That's as much as a major tanker disaster per year, on top of the actual tanker disasters. The 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo ejected enough atmospheric contaminants to lower the Earth's average temperature by 0.5 degrees C for over a year - much more sudden, and noticeable, than the current rate of climate change.
I found this really interesting map on Supervolcanoes: Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I had not heard about this occuring in the park, but heres an article on elk dying in wyoming. A lichen native to the Rockies has been blamed for the deaths of at least 300 elk in southern Wyoming, a mystery that had baffled wildlife scientists and cost the state thousands of dollars, the state said Monday. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4579276/
Well, what do yo know. In a completely unrelated thread someone brought up the yellowstone chaldera. Here's the link. http://www.solcomhouse.com/yellowstone.htm
Just for your benefit, Yellowstone usually blows up every 600,000 years, almost like clockwork one would say. Now it's approx. 40,000 years overdue and the magma chamber below Yellowstone Park is getting bigger all the time, the ground is rising in many areas of Yellowstone Park and there is a huge dome forming in the middle of Yellowstone Lake......Soon it will blow again. How soon??? Only time will tell. But soon enough now. This one could be the largest supervolcano explosion in the last 2 million years. Probably most of North America will be wiped out and the rest of you might as well leave that day blank on your calendar....... Yob Atta
