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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsYellowstone Supervolcano May Rumble to Life Faster Than Thought
https://apple.news/AlP-J_D84QTS8pknszlOkVwA new study of ancient ash suggests that the dormant giant could develop the conditions needed to blow in a span of mere decades.
By Victoria Jaggard
If the supervolcano underneath Yellowstone erupts again, we may have far less advance warning time than we thought.
After analyzing minerals in fossilized ash from the most recent mega-eruption, researchers at Arizona State University think the supervolcano last woke up after two influxes of fresh magma flowed into the reservoir below the caldera.
And in an unsettling twist, the minerals revealed that the critical changes in temperature and composition built up in a matter of decades. Until now, geologists had thought it would take centuries for the supervolcano to make that transition.
A 2013 study, for instance, showed that the magma reservoir that feeds the supervolcano is about two and a half times larger than previous estimates. Scientists also think the reservoir is drained after every monster blast, so they thought it should take a long time to refill. Based on the new study, it seems the magma can rapidly refreshmaking the volcano potentially explosive in the geologic blink of an eye.
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Exultant Democracy
(6,594 posts)Im not very interested in living in the aftermath and in the meantime Ill never get sick of the Rocky Mountains.
Orrex
(63,219 posts)MineralMan
(146,324 posts)It's a natural impulse. It's difficult to get people to think in geological time frames. In California, for example, people soon forget the last major earthquake, and always seem surprised when the next one occurs. I lived there for over 50 years, and experienced several destructive earthquakes, but a year after each one, most people were no longer concerned about the next one.
Huge volcanic eruptions are even less frequent. Nobody alive experienced the big Lassen blowout. Mt. St. Helens is now forgotten, as well. So, the next one will come as an enormous surprise to almost everyone.
Yellowstone? There's not even a human historical record of that supervolcano event. It's not something too many people think about, really.
samnsara
(17,625 posts)MineralMan
(146,324 posts)Part of the problem, really, is that we can't do much about geological catastrophes, so we pretty much don't think about them all that much. They happen rarely enough in any given place that the odds are very small that we'll be affected.
Yellowstone will likely be the location for another catastrophic event. The probability of it happening in any given lifetime, though, is very, very low. When it does happen, it will come as an enormous surprise for all but a very few people.
Orrex
(63,219 posts)For instance, the dinosaurs died out approximately four games ago, while the universe formed about 830 games ago.
sarisataka
(18,733 posts)Two and a half weeks for clean up of an eruption
G_j
(40,367 posts)Jimbo101
(776 posts)Submariner
(12,506 posts)and if it can happen before the 2018 mid-terms, hopefully this time result in a genetic bottleneck that kills off the current crop of racist fascist right wingnut jackasses that turn our stomachs daily.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_bottleneck
ProudLib72
(17,984 posts)I'm sure in two thousand years, the archaeologists will find my body Pompeii style sitting in front of my computer typing these last words to you... what was tha