What are the chances of controlling Volcanic eruptions with nukes?

With all of the talk going on about Yellowstone these past few days I started thinking about something.
I started wondering about the possibility of controlling a volcanic eruption and came up with a couple of different theories about how we could attempt something like this.
As i understand it and put into its most basic terms.
So put simply, an eruption occurs when the magma chamber fills with magma from below and when no more magma fits in the chamber the pressure continues to build over many, many years.
When the chamber can take no more, it explodes, resulting in a volcanic eruption.
The magma then cools, reseals and begins the process all over again, am i close to being right?

One theory I was thinking about in controlling a volcano would involve treating a volcano like a water heater that uses a pop-off valve to release the steam as the pressure builds up.

So I was thinking of this;
Find some drillers and offer them a lot of money because theres a good chance they could die and lets use Mt St Helens as an example since its smaller than yellowstone and has recently erupted and theres less pressure.
Its a very simple concept really but what are the chances it would work?
Since volcanoes already have natural vents, lets drill several vent shafts all around the volcano, if it worked then the volcano could not build up pressue and there would be no eruption

The other theory is potentially even more dangerous than the first one but still the same basic concept of using something to relieve the pressure before it can built to dangerous levels.
In this scenario, we would still drill some vents but not for the same purpose and not near as many.
Drill a few vents around the volcano, drop a 1 kiloton nuclear weapon in each vent and nuke it.

Despite the inherent danger of using a nuke as it is, i personally think that theory would have a better chance of being successful.

Anyway, what do you guys think? Are these plausible theories or am i just freakin nuts?

[edit on 1/7/2009 by chapter29]

[edit on 1/7/2009 by chapter29]

As far as I've read, in the case of Yellowstone, the magma chamber is like 10 miles down or more. The deepest we've drilled is like 2 miles I think, but I don't have the time to look it up. So for all the volcanoes in the world, its not a realistic proposition. The cost would be absurd. The nuclear fallout and radiation would be something that would make it unrealistic as well.

Even if all those weren't a problem, I don't think it is even possible even if we wanted to with our current technology. And with the technology, it still wouldn't work But who knows.

reply to post by ghaleon12


lol, you know i didnt even think about the consequences of seeding a volcanic eruption with radiation.
Ignite nuke, volcano erupts anyway, the volcanic ash mixes with the nuclear radiation and is carried into the upper atmosphere, raining down on the country/ world, thousands of miles away, irradiating the soil and water supplies
ah well, its fun to think anyway

I hear a group of global warmest are trying to gather enough fallen cork from the cork tree as well as corks from recycled champagne bottles to make a cork to prevent the Co2 from being released

Be better to use a few hundred pounds of dynamite. Though if the volcano is unstalbe enough tho be triggered, then it's likely soon to erupt anyway.

Well my other ideas were horrible.
Problem with drilling that was pointed out was that we dont have the technology to dig deep enough for release valves, the second one, the nuke, would have probably would have killed most of the people in the US by irradiating the air, food and water supply and would end up ending civilization as we know it today.
Capping it wouldnt work either, even though it worked in some movie i saw adding another/stronger cap to it would just cause it to build up even more pressure and would cause an even bigger eruption.
So, im fresh out of ideas here but i seriously want to know if scientists have made any attempts to come up with any theories.

I know I have heard of this idea somewhere before...

Oh yeah...

www.whatdoesitmean.com...

good ole' Sorcha Faal.

reply to post by Kr0n0s


Well, I am far from a volcano expert, but I have been reading everything I can get my hands on about Yellowstone in the last week or so.

One thing that I remembered when considering your theory was this;

en.wikipedia.org...

The volcanic eruptions, as well as the continuing geothermal activity, are a result of a large chamber of magma located below the caldera's surface. The magma in this chamber contains gases that are kept dissolved only by the immense pressure that the magma is under. If the pressure is released to a sufficient degree by some geological shift, then some of the gases bubble out and cause the magma to expand. This can cause a runaway reaction. If the expansion results in further relief of pressure, for example, by blowing crust material off the top of the chamber, the result is a very large gas explosion.

This seems to indicate that with this type of a volcano, the pressure actually helps keep things stable by keeping the gas liquid and not allowing its expansion. If something were detonated to relieve the pressure it (if this information is correct) actually cause a larger explosion as all the gas suddenly expands.

It was a good thought, and who knows, maybe it would work, but this seems to indicate that you dont want to relieve the pressure.

Originally posted by TwiTcHomatic
I know I have heard of this idea somewhere before...

Oh yeah...

www.whatdoesitmean.com...

good ole' Sorcha Faal.

I hope you dont think this thread and my ideas had anything to do with that site because Ive never heard of this site or this sorcha fal person until just a couple of weeks ago.
Also, after reading yalls comments about her "ideas" i didnt feel compelled to go.
So no, my crazy idea that wouldve completely irradiated North America was mine alone

reply to post by Kr0n0s


Never said you had any ties to that site...

I simply stated I had come across something similar in nature. The idea of large bombs being used at YS has been out there before. No reason to get defensive..

reply to post by TwiTcHomatic


I wasnt getting defensive, sorry it sounded that way. As the saying goes, its hard to hear tone of a typed word on the "net"
I am aware of that sites infamy though and now im compelled to go

[edit on 1/8/2009 by Kr0n0s]

Originally posted by ghaleon12
As far as I've read, in the case of Yellowstone, the magma chamber is like 10 miles down or more. The deepest we've drilled is like 2 miles I think, but I don't have the time to look it up. So for all the volcanoes in the world, its not a realistic proposition. The cost would be absurd. The nuclear fallout and radiation would be something that would make it unrealistic as well.

Even if all those weren't a problem, I don't think it is even possible even if we wanted to with our current technology. And with the technology, it still wouldn't work

But who knows.

On top of all that, would Bruce Willis even be available to do it?

On top of all that, would Bruce Willis even be available to do it?

He was the first person i thought of when i began to compile a list of potential drillers, dont think think i have that type of budget though

haha, I see what ya mean though.... lol
Its wild hearing a half cocked idea that I kicked around out of boredom was already thought of 3 years ago by someone at a website that reminds me of a tabloid magazine

United States Plans World’s Largest Explosion In Desperate Measure To Halt Catastrophic Yellowstone Volcanic Eruption By Sacrificing California

and

United States Plans World’s Largest Explosion In Desperate Measure To Halt Catastrophic Yellowstone Volcanic Eruption By Sacrificing California

By: Sorcha Faal, and as reported to her Russian Subscribers

Russian Military Analysts are reporting today that they have received an urgent communiqué from the United States Pentagon that during the first week of June they will be detonating the World’s largest known conventional explosion in one of their most seismically active Regions, the State of Nevada, and as we can also see as being confirmed by the Associated Press News Service in their article titled "US to test 700-tonne explosive", and which says:

"The US military plans to detonate a 700 tonne explosive charge in a test called "Divine Strake" that will send a mushroom cloud over Las Vegas, a senior defense official said. "I don't want to sound glib here but it is the first time in Nevada that you'll see a mushroom cloud over Las Vegas since we stopped testing nuclear weapons," said James Tegnelia, head of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency."

Russian Geologists upon studying this extraordinary United States communiqué dispute the reasons given by the American Military Government for this massive explosion being needed for the testing of ‘bunker busting’ bomb technology. One of these reports states that this massive explosion is intended to relieve the Massive Tectonic pressure upon the North American Plate and which is now threatening to activate the Yellowstone Super Volcano, and of which we can read as reported by the Fox News Service in their article titled "Giant Volcano Under Yellowstone Park Stirring to Life", and which says:

"Forces brewing deep beneath Yellowstone National Park could be making one of the largest volcanoes on Earth even bigger, a new study reveals. In the past decade, part of the volcano has risen nearly five inches, most likely due to a backup of flowing molten rock miles below the planet's crust. While the rise may not be noticeable to the casual hiker, the activity may have cracked the crust in the park's famous Norris Geyser Basin (NGB), leading to the formation of new fumaroles — holes that vent smoke and gas — and the reawakening of some of the area's geysers, including Steamboat, the largest geyser in the world."

Of even greater concern to the United States are the recent scientific studies of the Great Sumatra Earthquake as they have shown that the Western Regions of America are at much greater risk than previously believed, and as we can read as reported by Physorg.Com News Service in their article titled "Sumatra megaquake defied theory", and which says:

"The risks of Sumatra-style mega-quakes around the world have been sorely misjudged, say earth scientists who are re-examining some of the pre-December 2004 assumptions scientists made about such rare events. For more than two decades geologists had thought that the largest quakes, of magnitude 9 and greater, happen when a young tectonic plate is subducted, or shoved quickly, under another plate. But the Great Sumatra-Andaman earthquake of 26 December 2004 didn't match that pattern at all. The Indian Plate is middle-aged and moving at a middling rate, which throws into question the estimated quake dangers at other similar quake-prone zones near Japan, in the Pacific Northwest, Chile, Alaska, and elsewhere.