Surprising Activity at Yellowstone Supervolcano

Yet significant activity continues beneath the surface. And the activity has been increasing lately, scientists have discovered.

www.livescience.com...

For several years, scientists have been using GPS satellites to monitor the vertical and horizontal movements of the Yellowstone caldera, which helps to indicate what is going on further underground. Apparently, quite a bit...

thanks for posting this. I've tried to follow whats happening there and

I dont like this.

Please keep us informed- and thanks for the update.

Heres some more information on this (or related to it):

volcanoes.usgs.gov...

www.unews.utah.edu...

area sank by 3.2 inches, but the central caldera floor rose faster than ever recorded: about 6.7 inches since mid-2004.

"The rate is unprecedented, at least in terms of what scientists have been able to observe in Yellowstone," Smith says. "We think it's a combination of magma [molten rock] being intruded under the caldera and hot water released from the magma being pressurized because it's trapped. I don't believe this is evidence for an impending volcanic eruption. But it would be prudent to keep monitoring the volcano."

Always a good idea to keep an eye on Yellowstone.

Yellowstone constantly does this.

Yes, but we haven't been measuring it for long, so an accurate amount of uplift for the past is hard to get so we don't know if this is normal or not.

Thanks for finding the Puskas etal Paper apex Interesting reading, though mainly I suppose it just reinforces what we already know/suspect.

Fact is though - Yellowstone will erupt one day .....

Possable idea for really cheesy disaster movie: Huge asteriod impacts Supervolcano!!

Could a well placed H bomb trigger something like that? I've got too much time on my hands

Originally posted by Now_Then
Possable idea for really cheesy disaster movie: Huge asteriod impacts Supervolcano!!

Could a well placed H bomb trigger something like that? I've got too much time on my hands

LOL! I hate to admit it...but I was thinking somewhat along the same lines when I was posting this the other day.

And to add to the cheesiness....they can put a 'global warming' slant to it....

Thanks for the replies. I really enjoy monitoring these kinds of issues.

What was the estimated radius of destruction of the US if/when Yellowstone erupts?

I watch this link weekly to keep an eye on Yellowstone.

earthquake.usgs.gov...

There was a book I read not too long ago that dealt with terrorists planning to hit a volcano with a cruise missle to force it to erupt. The eruption would then cause a huge landslide into the ocean that would cause a giant tsunami that would wipe out the whole east coast. I can't remember the name of the book but it had "scimitar" in its title. The volcano was a real life one that is on an island off the western coast of africa but I can't remember the name.

Anyway, this could be a feasible scenario to blow up a volcano in a place that would cause major problems. Anybody else have any thoughts on this?

Originally posted by JackCash
What was the estimated radius of destruction of the US if/when Yellowstone erupts?

I'm no expert, but if I recall correctly from reading several articles, a supervolcano erupting of any magnitude would be a world-wide disasters.

According to wikipedia the smallest eruption in Yellowstone was an estimated 7 in the Volcanic Explosivity Index. The most recent eruption that can be compared to an eruption of this size is from the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo, which was rated level 6 and had global climate changing implications. To put it bluntly, I would fear a supervolcano no matter how far I lived from it's location.

Sources:
Wikipedia: Mount Pinatubo
Wikipedia: volcanic Explosivity Index

Originally posted by scooler1
There was a book I read not too long ago that dealt with terrorists planning to hit a volcano with a cruise missle to force it to erupt. The eruption would then cause a huge landslide into the ocean that would cause a giant tsunami that would wipe out the whole east coast. I can't remember the name of the book but it had "scimitar" in its title. The volcano was a real life one that is on an island off the western coast of africa but I can't remember the name.

Anyway, this could be a feasible scenario to blow up a volcano in a place that would cause major problems. Anybody else have any thoughts on this?

I seriously doubt it. The area that would need to be hit is WELL under the surface.

Plus, if you can get a nuke, it would be alot more effective to just blow it up in the middle of New York, in my opinion.

As far as the eruption goes, what are we considering an eruption? FULL BLOWN? If so, it's a world changing event.

Originally posted by bluesquareapple

Originally posted by JackCash
What was the estimated radius of destruction of the US if/when Yellowstone erupts?

I'm no expert, but if I recall correctly from reading several articles, a supervolcano erupting of any magnitude would be a world-wide disasters.

According to wikipedia the smallest eruption in Yellowstone was an estimated 7 in the Volcanic Explosivity Index. The most recent eruption that can be compared to an eruption of this size is from the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo, which was rated level 6 and had global climate changing implications. To put it bluntly, I would fear a supervolcano no matter how far I lived from it's location.

Sources:
Wikipedia: Mount Pinatubo
Wikipedia: volcanic Explosivity Index

Here's a picture example of relative magma sizes. Looks like Mt. St. Helens has about 1 cubic kilometer of magma, and Yellowstone has about 1,000 cubic kilometers; a hundred times larger than Mt. Pinatubo.

I saw a show about Yellowstone on the discovery channel I think, where it showed all the activity, but concluded that there's no reason to expect an eruption anytime soon. However, if there is one, everyone to the East of Yellowstone is basically doomed to be covered in ash, while everyone West of it is pretty safe.

I've been wondering about this for quite a while. What would be the worst case scenario if the Yellowstone Supervolcano blows?

Whats the expected radius of impact, whats the impact on climate and nature in the bigger picture (I'm guessing that 1000 km³ of magma being released would add quite some heat to the atmosphere.)

And to what detail do they have an eruption history on Yelllowstone?

Based on what I've seen if a supervolcano erupted full blast, it would throw up so much ash or dust into the atmosphere, it would choke out the sunlight around the world. You wouldn't need to worry about global warming anymore. Just imagine what nuclear winter might be like. Supposedly some mass extinctions of plant and animal life in the past has been linked to volcanic eruptions destroying I believe over 90 percent of all plant and animal life. I think that was due to blocking out the sunlight for several years.

Per the links provided at the start, the ash could be up to 3 feet thick across much of the US if the supervolcano blows. Here's a pic of the devastated areas immediately after impact.

livescience.com

The rest of the world would likely starve if they survived the resulting wars and chaos in the fight for food as the lack of sunlight killed off most plant life.


mod edit, link format

[edit on 19-3-2007 by DontTreadOnMe]

Originally posted by orionthehunter
Per the links provided at the start, the ash could be up to 3 feet thick across much of the US if the supervolcano blows. Here's a pic of the devastated areas immediately after impact.

*link removed*

The rest of the world would likely starve if they survived the resulting wars and chaos in the fight for food as the lack of sunlight killed off most plant life.

I live in Maine, so at least I would survive the initial explosion and onslaught of debris. Looks like I would be fending for myself afterwards.

[edit on 19-3-2007 by DontTreadOnMe]

Originally posted by orionthehunter
Supposedly some mass extinctions of plant and animal life in the past has been linked to volcanic eruptions destroying I believe over 90 percent of all plant and animal life. I think that was due to blocking out the sunlight for several years.

I think you are thinking of either the Deccan Traps or the Siberian Traps. These produced mass extinction events, the K-T extinction event and the Permian Triassic extinction event. Or they are theorized to have caused such events.

If Yellowstone were compared to these, it is small, as these were on the order of 10 to 100 times bigger, and if they could be put on the VEI scale, would be 9 or 10.

[edit on 19-3-2007 by apex]

THe last time that I visited the park, the potential for a super volcano erupting was definitely on my mind.

This volcano has the potential for an eruption that would stagger the imagination.

My St. Helens was apparently a small burp by volcano standards whereas this would be a full fledged mind boggling event.