Can we prevent Yellostone from erupting and benfit at the same time

If we were to drill/bore massive holes in the area we know as being the supervolcanoe in yellowstone wont that relieve the pressure and only maybe cause some lava to ooze up as opposed to explode down the road.

I mean the other great benefit about this is the energy we can generate through geothermal and thermionic coverters directly from the large landscape of the yellowstone volcanoe.

Best of both worlds why is this something that has not already been put to plan, preventing a devestating castrophe to the US and Canada while at the very least having a profitable power generator so its not just waste of money according to those who even doubt the threat.

Wouldn't that wake up the volcano instead? Maybe that's why they didn't do it... Because even if they think it would do good, and they are wrong, the entire planet will die, what an error!

Have you ANY idea of the size hole/s the would be required to perform such a task!!!?

*Grabs Hilti SFP 180 cordless drill with a 1/8 carbide masonry bit and prepares for the mission*

But thats not how volcanoes work, they are magma channels from the inside of the earth and are outlets for pressure to escape if it has a clear opening it will just ooze out maybe spit out, but if its path is blocked it will continue to build up and build up until the pressure is to much at which point it will explode. So because of the way the yellowstone volcanoe is if we drill the holes then the magma wont build up instead it will spit out the holes made and all we need to do is keep them clear and channel them.

Channel them to the ocean? It would be great, I predict that Halliburton will have the contract of about 9999 billions!

The way a magma chamber like the erupts is by a sudden release of pressure. The pressure will never build up and 'explode'. By drilling a hole into the top of the chamber, which is several times deeper than the deepest hole ever drilled, you'd accomplish the very goal that you seek to prevent.

Supervolcanos are just that. When it's their time it's their time... could be now, could be never...

I have wondered a while about that, I realize if you broke into the magna or any super heated part of the area it would probably be disasterous, but what about drilling alot of wells around the "problem" area without getting near the "hot" areas and try to cool the area down.

I'm not a geologist or anything, it was just an idea that popped into my head one day.

It would probably be impossible due to all the heat that is underneath the upper layer of a possible eruption.

Then again, I guess there wouldn't be any volcanoes in Alaska.

So Desolate C, are you volunteering to go and help drill the holes and install the pressure regulation devices.

Do you expect the US taxpayers to pay for this scheme.

Have you ever heard the phrase; "It's not nice to $^(% with mother nature?"

[edit on 11-9-2006 by whaaa]

Sorry, didn't mean to post this.

[edit on 11/9/06 by Keyhole]

No look im not a geoligist or an engineer I just in medical and industrial equipment sales.

My point for this thread and discussion was that we have this CATASTROPHE waiting to happen lets see what options we have to prevent it from taking place, with my limited knowledge of such things I thought that with our current oil drilling and mining technologies that we could if it would be beneficial to drill holes to allow the heat and build up to be released gradually as opposed all at once in an explosion (whenever that may be).

I just dont want a disaster that mankind has not seen before (in recorded history)to happen to this the greatest (and richest) nation. Completly destroying our way of life and cause events we cant imagine to take place( anarchy, viable real estate being 100x more expensive, untold death and livlihoods ruined) so why not be proactive as opposed to reactive (which in this case wouldnt even matter after the fact)

So that our enemies and the jerry fallwells wont be able to say its because of our way of life.

If anyone else has any ideas lets play off each others imagination, knowledge, skills and realistic mentallity to see if there would even be an option.

i think drilling into yellowstone to relieve the pressure would be a rather bad idea, somewhat similar to nuking an incoming mteorite or comet, as this would only make things worse.

Anyway the eruption is the way it releases pressure so it would be very difficult to stop it.

Unless you had really advanced technology like a wormhole to put the magma harmlessly on the other side of the galaxy so it couldnt hurt us in any way.

see i disagree i thinking the snchronized drilling so that many holes will be bored and reach magma at the same time is the best idea, there is pressure under there sure lava will erupt but nothing like how it would if we leave it to run its natuaral course, not to mention this method will prevent ash from causing a nuclear winter.

Wormhole/teleporation would be ideal cept i would reccomend bringin it to the ocean or desert so that it wont have side effects on earth losing so much mass. But then again this method is decades away.

Originally posted by Desolate Cancer

Wormhole/teleporation would be ideal cept i would reccomend bringin it to the ocean or desert so that it wont have side effects on earth losing so much mass. But then again this method is decades away.

would there not be a problem with the ocean in that there would be a massive hydrothermal explosion? A hydrothermal explosion at the bottom of the ocean may not have a great effect but if it were large enough it could cause a Tsunami.

this would be a massive expansion when the steam is created, as even ignoring the fact that it would be superheated there would be an expansion factor of 1300 when the steam is created.

This is the best comparison I can come up with.
Picture a balloon, it is under constant pressure.
If you were to poke a hole into the balloon, what happens, will it "ease" out, or will it pop. It will pop.
Now, of course if you drill a hole in yellowstone it wont pop. But, lets say you were to drill a hole and reached a chamber. Lava wont ooze out if there is pressure, it will come spitting out of that hole like crazy. You will damaged machinery, people burned, etc. Well, that is the way I see it, I could be wrong.
Where are our geologists?

Originally posted by lardo5150
This is the best comparison I can come up with.
Picture a balloon, it is under constant pressure.
If you were to poke a hole into the balloon, what happens, will it "ease" out, or will it pop. It will pop.
Now, of course if you drill a hole in yellowstone it wont pop. But, lets say you were to drill a hole and reached a chamber. Lava wont ooze out if there is pressure, it will come spitting out of that hole like crazy. You will damaged machinery, people burned, etc. Well, that is the way I see it, I could be wrong.
Where are our geologists?

That is a great comparison, but I learned something from watching mr wizard years ago, there are two ways of sticking a needle in a fully inflated and stressed balloon.

1) put a piece of scotch tape over the area maybe x a spot with it then when u stick the needle in, the tape holds it together or rather prevents the violent chain reaction of all the air wanting/able to escape all at once.

2) put the hole in the very top oppisate of the blow hole, in that area even on a fully inflated balloon it still is the least stressed out place on the balloon, you can even tell from the denser color compared to the rest of the balloon.

3) A combination of the two for the best and most reliable results.

Now like you said were talking about a supervolcanoe not a party balloon, but this analogy works great what if we were to drill the holes on the very edge or even considerably outside of the radius of the supervolcanoe perhaps drilling through a significant amount of additional earth this could be beneficial because then you could also use all that hundreds/thousands of yards of earth as a sort of scotch tape in addition to the manmade engineering devices we would use for best results.

It seems to be agreed by most of you that drilling a hole straight into the volcanoe would be a bad idea like just pokinga hole in the balloon, but perhaps this method would prove to be like what mr wizard did and was able to actually sick several holes into the balloon with ease.

You're analogy is correct, but not applicable.

There is NOTHING that can be done about Yellowstone. If it goes, it goes. The OVERWHELMING chance, is that it will be a simple basaltic or rhyolitic lava flow that is little more than what the Hawiian volcanos do on a regular basis. This has occured quite frequently there.

The first set of issues involves drilling a hole that deep, which as of this day and age, cannot be done. Certainly can't be done with any precision and care.

The next issue, is what then? If you release the pressure, the ground sinks the caldera fractures and then you get the exact results you're trying to avoid. If not, all it takes is one of the several hundred earth quakes to both collapse the drill hole, and blow up the caldera anyway. Etc, etc, etc...

NOTHING can be done about it.

Originally posted by Desolate Cancer
No look im not a geoligist or an engineer I just in medical and industrial equipment sales.

My point for this thread and discussion was that we have this CATASTROPHE waiting to happen lets see what options we have to prevent it from taking place, with my limited knowledge of such things I thought that with our current oil drilling and mining technologies that we could if it would be beneficial to drill holes to allow the heat and build up to be released gradually as opposed all at once in an explosion (whenever that may be).

That is a very bad idea, you might want to "solve what you view as a problem", but instead you will create the problem. For all we know Yellowstone supervolcano is not going to blow up in the next 500 years or more.

Having a person who doesn't know anything about deep core drilling try to come up with such a plan, is like asking a cook who has never been to college and hasn't studied advanced physics and mathematics to come up with the theory of everything....

Leave Yellowstone the way it is please.


[edit on 2-10-2006 by Muaddib]

Originally posted by Muaddib

That is a very bad idea, you might want to "solve what you view as a problem", but instead you will create the problem. For all we know Yellowstone supervolcano is not going to blow up in the next 500 years or more.

[edit on 2-10-2006 by Muaddib]

Even the next 50,000 years, or 500,000 years, or never, or tomorrow. All are as possible as the next choice.