SCI/TECH: Bulge Near Oregon Could Be New Volcano.

A bulge near two-thirds the size of Portland Oregon, has been steadily increasing since 1997, at about 1.4 inches a year. Now scientists studying the phenomenon think it could very well be a new volcano forming, but they state they are not certain yet. The bulge could be the early stages of a volcano, or the pooling of liquid rock.



Seismic events seem to be increasing in the US. I just have to wonder exactly what all of this means. Could the December 26th seaquake in Indonesia have had any effect on the growth of this bulge? What about other natural events such as hurricanes?

In one article that I read not too long ago, scientists stipulate that hurricanes can cause seismic activity, and set the Earth vibrating.

HURRICANES can trigger swarms of weak earthquakes and even set the Earth vibrating, according to the first study of such effects.

When Hurricane Charley slammed into Florida in August 2004, physicist Randall Peters of Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, had a seismometer ready to monitor any vibrations in the Earth's crust. He did so for over 36 hours as Charley travelled briefly over Florida, then slid back out into the Atlantic.

Excerpted from.
www.newscientist.com...

With all the hurricanes we are having lately, it seems that they are also increasing the likelihood of more earthquakes striking.


Related News Links:
www.livescience.com

[edit on 18-9-2005 by Muaddib]

I don't think that hurricanes cause enough vibration to set off earthquakes, after all even the shallowest lay at depths measured in miles BUT at the same time earth is not a collection of discreet land masses with a republican here, a communist there (and so forth) but it is an interconnected whole (which is why the environment matters for all of us, including global warming) so it could be the case. More likely the Christmas earthquake sent off ripples or echos (as it obviously did as it effected the earths wobble) and that has affected faults and weak places in the rock causeing more earthquakes. As for a possible volcano in Oregon, the dome started forming in the late 90's according to the article, and though while rare, new volcanos do form, remember that one in Mexico in the 40's (or 50's), it started out in a plowed field. Be that as it all may, should be interesting and something to watch.

Originally posted by grover
I don't think that hurricanes cause enough vibration to set off earthquakes, after all even the shallowest lay at depths measured in miles.
............

Maybe you didn't see the excerpt and link from New Scientist I posted.

Here it is again.

HURRICANES can trigger swarms of weak earthquakes and even set the Earth vibrating, according to the first study of such effects.

When Hurricane Charley slammed into Florida in August 2004, physicist Randall Peters of Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, had a seismometer ready to monitor any vibrations in the Earth's crust. He did so for over 36 hours as Charley travelled briefly over Florida, then slid back out into the Atlantic.

As the hurricane reached land, the seismometer recorded a series of "micro-tremors" from the Earth's crust. This happened again as the storm moved back out to sea. Then, as Charley grazed the continental shelf on its way out, it caused a sharp seismic spike. "I suspect the storm triggered a subterranean landslide," says Peters.

More surprisingly, the storm also caused the Earth to vibrate. The planet's surface in the vicinity of the hurricane started moving up and down at several frequencies ranging from 0.9 to 3 millihertz. Such low-frequency vibrations have been detected following large earthquakes, but this is the first time a storm has been found to be the cause.

Excerpted from.
www.newscientist.com...


[edit on 18-9-2005 by Muaddib]

thanks for pointing that out but i did see it...I meant it as in a hurricane in florida (or the gulf coast) creating enough of an impact to cause much larger earthquakes...local ones I can see. It doesn't surprise me after all for centeries people claimed earthquakes caused atmospheric lights and they were laughed at until it was caught on film. I am about to post something simular you might find interesting.

That would be an interesting pimple to pop.

I wonder if the bulge in Oregon is related to the bulging of the earth in & around Yellowstone Natl. Park, and/or the bulging taking place in New Mexico?

Originally posted by Astronomer68
I wonder if the bulge in Oregon is related to the bulging of the earth in & around Yellowstone Natl. Park, and/or the bulging taking place in New Mexico?

Yellowstone is a supervolcano waiting to happen. When it blows, it's going to cause massive devastation. There are seven known super volcanos in the world, including 2 in the US and 1 in Canada. The recent bulging is not a good sign. It already dwarfs the bulging that happend prior to the Mt. St. Helens erruption and is growing. It's speculatated that a supervolcano erruption ~70,000 years ago nearly wiped out humans and was the cause of the last ice age.

Dispensationalists are all salivating at the thought.

Originally posted by Astronomer68
I wonder if the bulge in Oregon is related to the bulging of the earth in & around Yellowstone Natl. Park, and/or the bulging taking place in New Mexico?

I was also thinking about the long and deep crevice that was formed in Texas and I covered a month ago or so.

It seems that seismic events are intensifying, and not only in Asia.

Update:

Bulge show no signs of bursting

SISTERS, Ore. (AP) — The swelling bulge on the west flank of the South Sister volcano is slowing and geologists say there are no signs that the uplifted region will erupt in the near future.

The latest statistics from instruments monitoring the bulge indicate that the uplift has slowed to about half its former rate of an inch or so a year.

Geologists think the bulge is being created by magma being pushed into a chamber about four or five miles underground, and its slowing means less of the liquid rock is flowing upward. They don't know why the rate of magma has seemed to ease.

Please click the link and read the full story

Now I have to wonder if the bulge is slowing down, whether the magma has found a new outlet and if perhaps the whatever was blocking the magma has moved and now it's filling up in one of the Sisters???