Tag: Supervolcano

Super-volcanos can erupt at any time

An international team of researchers in 2014 concluded that super-volcanos could erupt at any time without outside triggers, making predicting such an event more challenging.

This is due to a phenomenon called the “buoyancy effect,” which occurs when the molten magma inside the super-volcano reaches critically high pressures due to the much denser rock around it, forcing it to the surface.

Tests conducted at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble, France, suggest that the transition from solid to liquid magma alone can create pressures strong enough to crack more than six meters of the Earth’s crust above the caldera.

Using synchrotron X-rays, the scientists established that a super-volcano eruption might occur spontaneously, driven only by magma pressure without the need for an external trigger.


Super-volcano triggers recreated in X-ray laboratory
http://www.esrf.eu/home/news/general/content-news/general/supervolcano-triggers-recreated-in-x-ray-laboratory.html

Could the human race survive a supervolcano

I found this video on Youtube tonight and thought some of you might like it.

Although supervolcanoes might occur infrequently, they are by no means insignificant. The aftermath of the eruption of Mount Toba pushed humanity to the brink of extinction, roughly 71,000 years ago.

When an extreme magnitude of volcanic materials are ejected into the atmosphere, sunlight can’t reach the Earth’s surface – making global starvation a very real threat.

Experts estimate that, following the Mount Toba supervolcano eruption, global surface temperatures might have dropped as much as 59 degrees Fahrenheit for roughly 1,000 years. Fortunately, there are steps we can take to prepare the human race for the looming threat of supervolcanoes.

Yellowstone, holy crap on a stick

Talking about a Yellowstone Volcano eruption brings to mind an end of days scenario from which most of us die.

Some people will say, “It’s ready to blow,” to sell a book.

Some people will say, “Something is going on out there,” hoping they will be the first person to tweet, “I told you so.”

And some scientists will smugly say, “Don’t worry, there will be plenty of warning signs long before it ever happens.”

So holy crap on a stick, what’s a person to think?

Well, this is what I think. There is a lot of magma sitting under the caldera that has caused super-eruptions in the past with the last three being: The Huckleberry Ridge Eruption 2.1 million years ago, The Mesa Falls Eruption 1.3 million years ago, and The Lava Creek Eruption approximately 630,000 years ago, which created the Yellowstone Caldera.

So that makes the timing about right for another super-eruption, give or take thousands of years. However, seeing as how we live such short lifespans in comparison, I think we’re good for now. But what do I know, there may be a weak spot in the rock getting ready to let that lava lose any moment now, killing us all. Well, maybe not me, but those sheeple better watch out.

But seriously, there is no way of knowing for sure when it will happen. Still, one day some guy or gal watching it will get to tweet “I told you so,” and another hotspot will be added to the now 500-mile trail of past eruptions. This trial, created as the North American plate, moved in a southwestern direction over a shallow body of magma, is what brought the Yellowstone area to the shallow magma body. And it is this volcanism that remains a driving force in Yellowstone today.

The process is almost sure to repeat itself, and there is nothing we can do about it. Those who are alive at the time will have to deal with it the best they can.

I can be sure of one thing, though; there is going to be more crap in their underwear than on that stick when it does.