I knew there something wrong with the West North America

[Shaihulud]

Its news like that makes me wake up in the morning with a smile on my face. What an interesting world we live in! The view at groud zero of such an erruption will be extremely spectacular.

 

[Turner]

Albeit shortlived.....

 

[Drewcifer]

But if you gotta go you may as well see something spectacular in your final moments...

 

[Shaihulud]

At least it is happening in a relatively remote area? My impression of Yellowstone is that it is a nature reserve. Knowing the potential catastrophy in makinb they could dig trenches or bulwarks to divert the molten lava away from populated areas.

 

[Knowze Gungk]

At least it is happening in a relatively remote area?

To us, at least

As for the trenches. Lava is no where close to the main concern of the potential eruption. 'Tis but the itch in contrast to prostate cancer.

 

[CenturionV]

Every 600,000 years you say eh?

hmm 600,000 - 6000 = 594,000 years until the next eruption, I would'nt worry about it.

 

[carlosMM]

Every 600,000 years you say eh?

hmm 600,000 - 6000 = 594,000 years until the next eruption, I would'nt worry about it.

Wo-hoa, you wanna bring forth your 6,000 year theory again?

please, make a new thread and bring proof!


basically: shut up or money up

 

[Knowze Gungk]

Every 600,000 years you say eh?

hmm 600,000 - 6000 = 594,000 years until the next eruption, I would'nt worry about it.

erm...

Explosions of this magnitude "happen about every 600,000 years at Yellowstone," says Chuck Wicks of the U.S. Geological Survey, who has studied the possibilities in separate work. "And it's been about 620,000 years since the last super explosive eruption there."

I don't know where you got 6000 from, but according to Mr Wicks here, it's overdue by about 20,000 years or so.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

At least it is happening in a relatively remote area? My impression of Yellowstone is that it is a nature reserve. Knowing the potential catastrophy in makinb they could dig trenches or bulwarks to divert the molten lava away from populated areas.

When a continent explodes, trenches and bulwarks arent much help. Alot of the lava will shoot into the stratosphere and come down all over the world as a fine ash.

 

[CenturionV]

I don't know where you got 6000 from, but according to Mr Wicks here, it's overdue by about 20,000 years or so.

well unless it was exploding before the earth existed....

oh wait, your one of those people, your probably gonna tell me that I came from a rocky volcanic stew or something too?

 

[HamaticBabylon]

Look at these guys speculating about this volcano in yellow park valley. I mean I’m not the one to wish death on the continent of North America, but is it right for us to speculate on the apocalyptic destruction of the United States, there are some nutters out there that will say.

"ha.....ha...."

 

[Amenhotep7]

your probably gonna tell me that I came from a rocky volcanic stew or something too?

No no, you came from your Mommy's tummy. You see, when a mommy and a daddy love each other so much...

Sorry, I just couldn't help myself.

 

[Raging Jonathan]

Warning! This is likely to be the most ignorant post on this thread, nay, the most on this forum, nay the most ignorant piece of crap ever posted!

Since a volcano has a relatively small sized hole, and it poitns upward, does that contribute any to the pressure of the blast and therefore its' ability to reach greater hights and effect a larger zone of atmosphere? Because if it does, some of the effect might be reduced by making the hole ground level and very large, so that instead of exploding it more or less oozes out and just creates a little lake of lava with not as much explosion.

Forgive me if that is incredibly naive.

 

[Birdjaguar]

At least it is happening in a relatively remote area? My impression of Yellowstone is that it is a nature reserve. Knowing the potential catastrophy in makinb they could dig trenches or bulwarks to divert the molten lava away from populated areas.

Lava is not the issue, it's the ash. In past yellowstone eruptions up to 2/3 of the US area was covered with some level of ash. This would be a big deal. It would take the Wyoming/Idaho/Montana area off the map as ash hundreds of feet thick covered huge areas around the caldera. It would comletely shut down the US and Canada for a long time. World climate changes would put everyone at risk and typical demand patterns would change radically. Factories everywhere would close; China's export based economy would collapse. Unrest would quickly follow. What fun.

http://www.cheniere.org/misc/Eruptions that occurred at Yellowstone.htm

What was the extent of ash deposition from the largest Yellowstone eruptions?

During the three giant caldera-forming eruptions that occurred between 2.1 million and 640,000 years ago, tiny particles of volcanic debris (volcanic ash) covered much of the western half of North America, likely a third of a meter deep several hundred kilometers from Yellowstone and several centimeters thick farther away (Figure 3). Wind carried sulfur aerosol and the lightest ash particles around the planet and likely caused a notable decrease in temperatures around the globe.

 

[blackheart]

well unless it was exploding before the earth existed....

oh wait, your one of those people, your probably gonna tell me that I came from a rocky volcanic stew or something too?

I don't think the volcano is a few billion years old .

Either way, we're long overdue for an eruption, and this isn't the only "supervolcano" in existence. There are several all over the world, and if any erupt, we're all pretty much screwed.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Since a volcano has a relatively small sized hole, and it poitns upward, does that contribute any to the pressure of the blast and therefore its' ability to reach greater hights and effect a larger zone of atmosphere? Because if it does, some of the effect might be reduced by making the hole ground level and very large, so that instead of exploding it more or less oozes out and just creates a little lake of lava with not as much explosion.

Your understanding of volcanoes is limited. They come in different flavors and each flavor has a different pattern. Hawaiian volcanoes are not explosive and often ooze lava in what appears to be a manageable way. Mt. Pinaturbo erupted in 1991 and spit 2.4 cubic miles of material into the air. Mt St. Helens in 1980 put 0.24 cubic miles aloft. Explosive caldera volcanoes are a different animal. In three eruptions Yellowstone has spewned 67, 240 and 1200 cubic miles of material into the air. this material is blasted from the earth in enormous explosions that send the material high into the atmosphere. The largest could have covered 633,600 square miles with 10 feet of ash. That's a circle with a diameter of 900 miles from ground zero. I used a uniform depth of 10 feet. If you change the depth you will get larger (or smaller circles). Let's hope we miss the next one.

 

[Raging Jonathan]

I think limited would be an understatement.

I know that ash is the primary detriment, what I'm saying is can making the hole larger reduce the amount of pressure and therefore the size of the explosion and the ensuing ash that gets in the air.

With a small mountain volcano it would logically spurt ash much higher and with greater force and therefore effect a larger area. But if there is less pressure from a large hole the explosion should decrease and therefore the amount of atmsophere darkened by ash.

 

[Birdjaguar]

I know that ash is the primary detriment, what I'm saying is can making the hole larger reduce the amount of pressure and therefore the size of the explosion and the ensuing ash that gets in the air.

With a small mountain volcano it would logically spurt ash much higher and with greater force and therefore effect a larger area. But if there is less pressure from a large hole the explosion should decrease and therefore the amount of atmsophere darkened by ash.

Given that the magma chamber could be many miles below the surface, it would not be practical to try to widen it. How would you widen a 5 or 10 mile wide crater? The location of any new crater might not be obvious until after the fireworks. Also we don't know when it will explode or with what force. Once it starts, it is totally out of our control. With such things, we have no choice, but to let nature work it course.

 

[Raging Jonathan]

As long as its' theoretically possible I am cool.

 

[Knowze Gungk]

oh wait, your one of those people, your probably gonna tell me that I came from a rocky volcanic stew or something too?

Of course not. You're the offspring of a monkey & a fish (or however it is the church has interpreted what it has refused to try & understand over the years).