Yellowstone is on its last legs says scientist

source

Yellowstone volcano at 80 kilometres beneath the Earth's surface it's about 1450 °C, say researchers – which, for a supervolcano, is only lukewarm.

That doesn't mean we won't get another eruption. The last explosion, some 642,000 years ago, created the Yellowstone caldera and blanketed half of the present day US in ash.

But Derek Schutt of Colorado State University believes the relatively tepid temperature means the supervolcano could be on its last legs.

Yellowstone National Park in the US is one of a few dozen volcanic hotspots around the world, along with the likes of Hawaii and Iceland.

What causes it to periodically erupt is not clear. Some researchers think it is disturbances in the top 200 kilometres of the Earth's interior, but increasingly the evidence is pointing to a large plume of hot mantle rising up from much deeper, melting its way through the crust.

ye i agree its overdue for an eruption aswell so it really could happen soon.




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[edit on 14-8-2008 by 12m8keall2c]

[edit on 14-8-2008 by DontTreadOnMe]

heres a live webcam of yellowstone

www.nps.gov...

Let me translate that for the layman: scientists say Yellowstone might or might not erupt.

Good to know.

There are only a few volcanoes on Earth that the people should be truly scared of. If Yellowstone were to erupt again it would be catastrophic for the entire human race. The dust cloud would blanket a greater portion of the earths sky and bobs-your-uncle we have extinction.

If yellowstone were to erupt it would be just like the dinosaurs all over again.

The one thing I have learned since May is that "experts" really don't know anything about caldera systems. People were caught off guard by Chaiten in Chile and Okmok in Alaska. Since caldera systems tend to erupt so infrequently we really know nothing about them. For this character from Colorado State University to make these claims tells me his information was compiled via the rectal retrieval method. Is this another case where someone puts something together for the sake of getting published?

"this is much colder than other presumed mantle plumes, such as Hawaii"

That quote is an example of where researchers make reckless comparisons to traditional volcanoes. Hawaiian volcanoes while being hotspot volcanoes are still traditional. They erupt calmly (relatively speaking) and regularly. Stratovolcanoes such as Mount St. Helens also have predictable signs leading up to an eruption. We know this because we seem them erupt frequently. You wouldn't apply the same standards of a hotspot volcano to a stratovolcano. You also shouldn't make the mistake of doing the same to a caldera volcano.

To this "brilliant" researcher from Colorado State University I ask this... Did you stop to think that perhaps slower moving fluid from the earth's core would cool more before reaching the surface? The magma in Hawaii moves freely to the surface. It doesn't have an opportunity to cool like in Yellowstone. The conduit the magma travels through isn't insulated. The heat of the magma transferring through it will transfer through the rock around it. The slower the fluid moves the more energy will be absorbed by the surrounding rock. Of course the magma in Yellowstone is cooler. It isn't going anywhere.

I think you left out the link from where you got this info...

This is an interesting new theory. Like Indy said above, though, the supervolcanoes really kind of defy current scientific understanding. Interesting yes, but definitive...not so much.