Yellowstone Supervolcano

doodah said:
Nothing is absolute. I would agree that we probably have thousands of years before the next catastophic caldera eruption at Yellowstone- but we don't have enough information to be certain. Problem is, there is no human recorded history of "supervolcano" eruptions- so we really don't know the precursors or the timing for these massive eruptions. Should they follow the pattern for smaller silicic eruptions (Mt St. Helens)? Probably. But maybe there are not many signals- and once you release just a bit a pressure, the whole system goes within a very short time period?

Hope you had a interesting trip- by chance did you visit Mud Volcano?
Click to expand...

Yellowstone will undoubtly erupt again. Just when? It could go tomorrow, next month or even 10,000 years from now. Thoses who say it won't, probably own property around Yellowstone Lake. :D
 
Last night on Sky Tv there was a program on this volcano, probably a rerun but it was interesting to note that the caldera is "breathing" and has been for a long long time. A geologist went there some time ago and, on his return, noted that the land had changed. It had risen 18 meters. He had a survey carried out and one of the surveyors said that the 1920 measurements were way off the mark. The geologist said that they had been quite correct.

Since, I think it was 1990, the land has been dropping again.

Archeological finds measure the movements of caldera lakeside indians who withdrew as the waters rose, and returned as it ebbed.

Clearly the volcano is "alive" and, if it blew, would clear 100 km around the crater with pyroplastic flows, killing all in its path. The authorities have a plan to clear an area 500km around the crater.

Volcanoes, according the the geologist and vulcanologists on the programme, are rated on a scale from 1 - 10. Mount St Helens was a 4. Martinique was a 3 and Yellowstone would be an 8; a super eruption far in excess of Krakatoa.

I am not an expert on these things but trust to those who are. Nobody listened to an expert on Mount St Helens, to their peril. He warned what was going to happen and nobody cared.
 
Red Devil said:
Last night on Sky Tv there was a program on this volcano, probably a rerun but it was interesting to note that the caldera is "breathing" and has been for a long long time. A geologist went there some time ago and, on his return, noted that the land had changed. It had risen 18 meters. He had a survey carried out and one of the surveyors said that the 1920 measurements were way off the mark. The geologist said that they had been quite correct.

Since, I think it was 1990, the land has been dropping again.

Archeological finds measure the movements of caldera lakeside indians who withdrew as the waters rose, and returned as it ebbed.

Clearly the volcano is "alive" and, if it blew, would clear 100 km around the crater with pyroplastic flows, killing all in its path. The authorities have a plan to clear an area 500km around the crater.

Volcanoes, according the the geologist and vulcanologists on the programme, are rated on a scale from 1 - 10. Mount St Helens was a 4. Martinique was a 3 and Yellowstone would be an 8; a super eruption far in excess of Krakatoa.

I am not an expert on these things but trust to those who are. Nobody listened to an expert on Mount St Helens, to their peril. He warned what was going to happen and nobody cared.
Click to expand...

If I were a betting man, I would bet on TOBA (Circa: 74,000BC) erupting again before Yellowstone. TOBA would probably yield an even bigger eruption (9 or 10) than Yellowstone if it were to go again. It certainly was at least a 9 or 10 last time it went. If you're ever fishing on Lake TOBA and you see a bunch of bubbles rising to the surface that smell like sulpher, row like 'hell'.:D
 
Novacane said:
If you're ever fishing on Lake TOBA and you see a bunch of bubbles rising to the surface that smell like sulpher, row like 'hell'.:D
Click to expand...
and catch the next shuttle.
 
Tobanew.jpg


There is nothing like this in Yellowstone. The Toba erruption was 10 times that of what Yellowstone ever was.
 
valich said:
Tobanew.jpg


There is nothing like this in Yellowstone. The Toba erruption was 10 times that of what Yellowstone ever was.
Click to expand...

Yea........and had it not been for the TOBA eruption (Circa: 72,000BC), the Neanderthals would be a much larger political party than they are today. :D
 
humphreys-nicemap.jpg

Do time-progressive linear volcanic trends usually come in pairs? No! But here you see the Yellowstone and Newberry volcanic trends starting from the same area, and then propagating out in opposite directions. Newberry propagates westward into Oregon, while Yellowstone heads east. This is highly suggestive of a common origin for the two trends. Source: http://geodyn.ess.ucla.edu/~hernlund/westus.html

Also, there was the 1959 6.5 Reichter earthquake in Yellowstone that buried 28 campers alive, sent hot spots souring up as geysers, and was followed by 300 aftershocks in 1960 and some 30 in 1961. My father was there just afterwards and witnessed the huge landslide that occurred on one side of the river that buryied the campers, created a rift in the bottom of the canyon that changed the course of te river and elevated the opposite side, pushing up huge boulders the size of houses up the opposite side of the canyon walls. 5,000 terrified Yellowstone vacationers backed up the roads trying to get out but couldn't because of the cracks that split across the roads. As the tremors persisted, some panicked, ran from their cars right into trees and into the forest. Lesson: stay calm in an earthquake, and no one knows when it might erupt again.
 
Of course it would be hard to stay calm when Yellowstone decides to erupt bigtime again like it did approx. 640,000 years ago. But if it does erupt again in your lifetime, then just smile and be happy. Open up a can of beer, light up a big cigar and say goodby to the neighbor's wife, because there is 'nothing' and I mean 'nothing' you can do about it. :D
 
Last edited:
If my three remaining braincells are still functioning, I believe I read somewhere that geneticists can show that about 70,000 years ago the world human population dropped to something around 10,000 due probably to a super volcano farting.
 
The maddening thing is that it is technologically possible for anyone who has a bit of money and property to survive such an explosion and wait out the worst of it. I couldn't guess very well how close to the volcano a person could live and survive in an underground shelter like a full basement with a concrete roof, but the longer someone can hold out in such a shelter the better his chances get.

But it could be 100,000 years before the next one. Is all the money wasted that was spend on building a hardened home with extra reservoirs for water and energy storage and stuff?
 
Wolfboy said:
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.

:(
Click to expand...


Saturday, September 2, 2006 23:04 MDT
Current Volcanic-Alert Level: NORMAL
Current Aviation Color Code: GREEN

August 2006 Yellowstone Seismicity Summary

During August, 2006, 82 earthquakes were located in the Yellowstone region. The largest of these shocks was a magnitude 2.7 on August 9, 2006 at 7:34 AM MDT, located about 3 miles north northwest of Fishing Bridge, Wyoming. This event was part of a swarm of small earthquakes in the Hayden Valley area and is in the same location as an intense swarm in fall 1978 that was accompanied by notable changes in hydrothermal features near Mud Volcano.

No earthquakes in this period were reportedly felt. Earthquake activity in the Yellowstone region remains at relatively low background levels.

Ground Deformation Summary: Through August 2006, continuous GPS data show that most of the Yellowstone caldera continued moving upward at the same (or somewhat lower) relative rates as the past year. The maximum measured ground uplift over the past 24 months is ~11 cm at the White Lake GPS stations. An example can be found at: http://www.mines.utah.edu/~ggcmpsem/UUSATRG/GPS/Site_Info/pboscat_lkwy.gif


The general uplift of the Yellowstone caldera is scientifically interesting and will continue to be monitored closely by YVO staff.

An article on another recent uplift episode at Yellowstone and discussion of long-term ground deformation at Yellowstone and elsewhere can be found at: http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/yvo/2006/uplift.html
 
valich said:
Tobanew.jpg


There is nothing like this in Yellowstone. The Toba erruption was 10 times that of what Yellowstone ever was.
Click to expand...

Not true. Perhaps 20 percent bigger(as measured by total ejecta) than the biggest KNOWN yellowstone eruption.
 
P. BOOM! said:
Not true. Perhaps 20 percent bigger(as measured by total ejecta) than the biggest KNOWN yellowstone eruption.
Click to expand...

20% bigger is 20% bigger........How many megatons is that equal too? Answer is; Bigtime megatons.:D
 
Norman said:
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
Click to expand...

According to the last National Geographic film about the subject - and this US government link , it is not really overdue :
it erupted 2 millions year ago , 1,3 millions year ago and 600.000 years ago -
statistically there is still 100.000 years to the next eruption !!!

http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Yellowstone/description_yellowstone.html

Then again , you never know !!!

:cool:
 
Alsophia Theophilos said:
Anybody want to set off a few more underground nukes in neighboring Nevada??
Click to expand...
why would that work, all you would succeed in doing is setting off the eruption in your lifetime
 
Not necessarily tdr, the force of a nuke would do one of 3 things

1.Prevent an eruption
2.Cause an eruption
3.Nothing

My money would be on the third
 
heavymetal said:
According to the last National Geographic film about the subject - and this US government link , it is not really overdue :
it erupted 2 millions year ago , 1,3 millions year ago and 600.000 years ago -
statistically there is still 100.000 years to the next eruption !!!

http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Yellowstone/description_yellowstone.html

Then again , you never know !!!

:cool:
Click to expand...

When we are talking about long long periods of time a few hundered thousand years each side is close enough to fit the pattern.

And it happening 3 times is not enough to confirm that there is a regular pattern
 
the force of many nukes has the high chance of giving the magma an area of release which it will duely take. it will either do nothing or cause and eruption it will not prevent an eruption
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top