Earthquakes at Yellowstone Supervolcano: Update

new coverage of an eruption

With any luck GW Bush, Dick Cheney, Lush Limpbaugh and the entire FOX news team will be stading right on top of the magma chamber when it goes off...

craig of CO @ Jan 09, 2009 23:36:46 PM

yellowstone

I am visiting from another country,being here on numerous accsions, and I can feel the impending catastrophe coming, in 2009 it will be massive earthquake in san fran or yellowstone will waken,I think some people know but are not telling. I know about the finance woes, but it is not that, people are fearful and not even aware of where the fear is coming from. it is called survival instinct,yellowstone is getting ready to blow,betcha!!!!!

maureen of CA @ Jan 08, 2009 17:24:47 PM

Need a good eruption

Need a good eruption to get rid of the wolves.

Randy of ID @ Jan 07, 2009 15:10:55 PM

I don't know

I was reading on a website about the supervolcano. According to the majority of scientists who have been studying historical supervolcanos and erruptions of those types... they say (as of 2008) it would take decades, possible even centuries, of warnings before an erruption actually happens. at least 3 recent articles I've read said they do not believe an erruption is eminant for the next several thousands of years. Perhaps tens of thousands of years.

Some articles I've read say there is a possibility of a major erruption that can cause serious devistation to the surrounding areas, but not earth shattering devistation.

if there were an erruption... I'm not sure how it would affect the entire world. According to the projection map, the ash fall wouldn't reach Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and other eastern states... yet supposedly ash would be thrown 20 miles into the atmosphere, and travel around the world and blacken the sky.

don't know how that works. It seems to be localized to the western states... yet it will affect the world. I don't know.

All I know is... it seems most scientists agree that this isn't something they're extremely worried about. They say this will be for the next generation or two of scientists to research.

For me... it freaks the crap out of me... but I look at it this way...

the bible doesn't say "a volcano will end the world" or 2012 is the end of the world.

God says about the rapture: "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone."

So I don't buy into the whole doomsday predictions. I just have this gut instinct, maybe a hope... that it will not happen in our lifetime or our children's lifetime. Perhaps not even in their children's lifetime.

Ara of OH @ Jan 07, 2009 01:45:06 AM

Yellowstone - lull before the storm....

"Don't adjust your television set". Those were the words before a famous TV series in the 1950's.

They came to mind when I read your article about the recent Yellowstone tremors because the scenario for the USA is likewise as unthinkable as those TV stories.

Last year Chaiten, a super volcano dormant for 6000 years in Peru, exploded and put 6 million tonnes of material into space. The plume could be seen clearly across the whole of South America.

I can't describe the horror I saw in those related photos- if you want to see what it looked like go to:

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/06/chaiten_volcano_still_active.html

Perhaps the Mayans were right - every 400 years there may be uncontrollable climate change on our planet and great civilizations have waxed and waned each time.

For example, in the 1600's there was a min-ice age in Europe that may have changed it’s history. In 1665 Isaac Newton left Cambridge to live with his mother for 2 years during the Great Plaque that could have been a bi-product of climate change (extreme cold followed by hot weather). He developed two of his great theories of gravity and optics while living with his mother.

The global warming scientists have ignored and continue to ignore that mini-ice age and the fact that temperatures were higher before it then now.

I just hope that if anything does develop in Yellowstone, we have the people in government around the world to deal with it better than the governments that have dealt with the 2008 financial crisis.

Rex

Tamworth NSW Australia

Rex Grout @ Jan 06, 2009 23:27:09 PM

Yellowstone

Uhhh, guys you do realize this would virtually wipeout over 60% of life on earth right? And dude, if your in Iowa, you will be hunkering down alright, and kissin' yer azz goodbye.

mike of WI @ Jan 06, 2009 23:00:34 PM

If an eruption were imminent, the U.S. government would have to tell people about it, seeing as an eruption of the supervolcano could incinerate everything within at least a hundred square miles. People would have to get out of that area, and not telling them would cause their deaths. The fact that they would panic is not relevant, seeing as they would die in the surrounding area if they were not told. We would have to be told.

dracoaestas of WI @ Jan 06, 2009 22:41:13 PM

Take a deep breath

Ok, most likely nothing will happen, and this will go down in geology logs like the 2004 Norris Basin activity.

But it is interesting to watch, is it not?

The harmonics I see might be caused by hydrothermal activity, or by the wind, I don't know. I was hoping someone knowledgeable might chime in.

Unfortunately the blog seems to be getting a very high noise-to-signal ratio from the left-wing haters and political fanatics. Does -everything- in this country have to come down to how much you hate the president or Christians? Can't this be about geology?

Steve of MN @ Jan 06, 2009 19:13:55 PM