Ground Is Rising at Yellowstone Park

[jpak]

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/tech/2007/nov/08/110809403.html

WASHINGTON (AP) - Yellowstone National Park, once the site of a giant volcano, has begun swelling up, possibly because molten rock is accumulating beneath the surface, scientists report.

But, "there is no evidence of an imminent volcanic eruption," said Robert B. Smith, a professor of geophysics at the University of Utah.

Many giant volcanic craters around the world go up and down over decades without erupting, he said.

Smith and colleagues report in Friday's issue of the journal Science that the flow of the ancient Yellowstone crater has been moving upward almost 3 inches per year for the past three years.

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[soothsayer]

1. Man, it's gonna be a big one when it finally blows! Old Faithful ain't faithful

anymore, and lots of the park is closed cuz the ground is so hot or something

[TwilightGardener]

2. I was reading in Bill Bryson's book--"A Short History Of Nearly Everything"--

that Yellowstone experienced an uplift so great in recent years that lake water was sloshed from one shore to the other, flooding the adjacent land on one side and leaving the other side high and dry--I won't want to be living in Nebraska when that caldera decides to blow again, that's for sure. Although it would possibly be a worldwide catastrophe, ashfall-wise.

[kestrel91316]

3. Where you REALLY don't wanna be if she blows is WY or CO......

[TwilightGardener]

5. Well, no--but Nebraska is still too close--there were prehistoric animals buried here

under ten feet of ash (Ashfall Fossil Beds) from the last blowup. I did buy some land in CO, however, so I'm running TOWARD the risk, LOL!

[joeybee12]

6. No place on earth is safe if she blows...

...the amount of ash and gunk sent up will decimate the entire middle of this country, and cover the sun, creating a years-long ice age--crops will fail and mankind will be wiped out. most of us will die of starvation. Personally, I'd like to be right at Old Faithful when it goes--get it over quickly.

[kestrel91316]

15. Good argument for keeping at least 6 months' supply of staple food

items under the bed. I've got my cornmeal, flour, sugar, oil, pinto beans. Bunch of home-canned stuff. We wouldn't have to starve if people would try to be just a LITTLE bit prepared.

[Warpy]

11. It's not going to be fun here in NM, either

if the prevailing winds send the ash plume down this far. Lots of our flat roofs will collapse, people will die from inhaling the dust and ash, and the area will generally be uninhabitable for some time.

As long as the Valle Grande caldera doesn't wake up, some of us will survive, though.

[lurky]

4. Damn. We have enough problems without

giant calderas cracking open in the middle of our country! Let's hope this is just routine.

[Hydra]

7. It's more than 40,000 years overdue

How much longer would you like it to wait?

Personally, I look forward to the event, even though it's right on my doorstep. The last super-volcano killed all but 2000 of us as a species. A thinning to 100 million or less of us would be a good thing, IMO, and the ash and sulfur dioxide would cool the planet off.

[lurky]

10. Sadly, I don't share your sense of perspective.

For me, it's hard to countenance the death of billions and the end of civilization without taking it a little personally.

Interesting how we (as a people) get so alarmed with reports of asteroid trajectories with a .001 prob of hitting us in 5 centuries, while the greater threat is right under our feet. Of course, there is a chance we could avert an asteroid hit, but a Yellowstone is unstoppable.

[Hydra]

12. I'm just bad that way

After Krakatoa, our species was almost wiped out. We should have faded away. A funny thing happened, though. I think most of the survivors were TRUE SURVIVORS, innovative, willing to take risks and deadly.

Right now I see most of our species as indolent, fearful and not very appreciative of the miracle of their own lives.

Whether it's a comet or a volcano, something has to happen to cull the herd of those who aren't in love with living...or we'll wind up doing it to ourselves by overpolluting our world or nuking it.

[phantom power]

8. A mega-eruption would be very simplifying.

All of the other problems we usually worry about would become pretty much irrelevant, immediately.

[Greyskye]

9. Destruction would be catastrophic

Check out the ash beds from previous supervolcano eruptions.



This is a good overview source: http://www.solcomhouse.com/yellowstone.htm

[Hydra]

13. "Would be"? Try "will be."

It's only a matter of time.

[Greyskye]

14. True.

Yellowstone erupts on average every 600,000 years. It's been 620,000 years since the last eruption.

Only a matter of time indeed.