What do the Yanks say to this?

Question

It is little known that lying underneath one of America's areas of outstanding natural beauty - Yellowstone Park - is one of the largest supervolcanoes in the world. Scientists have revealed that it has been on a regular eruption cycle of 600,000 years. The last eruption was 640,000 years ago... so the next is overdue.

And the sleeping giant is breathing: volcanologists have been tracking the movement of magma under the park and have calculated that in parts of Yellowstone the ground has risen over seventy centimetres this century. Is this just the harmless movement of lava, flowing from one part of the reservoir to another? Or does it presage something much more sinister, a pressurised build-up of molten lava?

Scientists have very few answers, but they do know that the impact of a Yellowstone eruption is terrifying to comprehend. Huge areas of the USA would be destroyed, the US economy would probably collapse, and thousands might die.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/1999/supervolcanoes.shtml

The USA has dragged it's feet on every enviromental issue, to date.

Perhaps Mother Nature's way of dishing divine justice?

Answer 1

well said can't come soon enough

Answer 2

The Yellowstone Caldera is known throughout the world.

Our present level of science means that if it decided to 'blow', we could do nothing.

As for this being 'divine vengeance'!
What a crock!

Was the Tsunami that hit Indonesia the same?
Was the Krakatoa eruption of 1883 the same?
No!

For a moment, forget your obvious dislike of the American people.
If the Caldera became unstable enough to trigger a SuperEruption then approximately half of the USA would be destroyed and at least half of what was left would be affected, killing millions.
The 'fallout' from the SuperEruption would circle the Globe causing major disruption and death everywhere.
The size of the eruption at Yellowstone could be measured significantly against the Extinction of Life Event that presaged the end of the Dinosaur Era.

The Krakatoa eruption in 1883 had an explosion that was heard 3000 kilometres away and that was just a single volcano that wasn't even that large when compared to other volcanoes on Earth.
Yellowstone Caldera would be heard around the world and may even kill some people by the sheer magnitude of volume!

Not an event I would like to see or hear!

Answer 3

There are many doomsday scenarios. A fair number will almost certainly happen, and this is one of them. Other dangers include asteroids, mega-tsunamis (an island off Africa's West Coast is going to fall into the ocean and when it does it will create a tsunami taller than a skyscrapper that will head to the U.S.), ice-ages, and unusually intense solar flares capable of over-loading power-grids (they will need to be replaced) and forcing us to go without electricity for years.

Most doomsday sinereors really aren't the end of the world, any more than 9/11 was the end of the world. The world has survived major extinctions far worse than a super-volcano. Even the human race, which wasn't very large at the time, still managed to survive the last super-volcano. We should be able to survive another (unless it is much larger than the previous explosion).

The reason most people dismiss these predictions is that most haven't happened in recorded history. The last super volcano was many thousands of years ago, the last major mega-tsunnami was also a long time ago, and it has been 65 000 000 years since an astroid distroyed the dinosaurs. That is a long time. Pearl Hearbor and 9/11 were only 59 years apart, yet six years ago few people thought a major attack on the U.S. was possible because it that just couldn't happen.

All the horrible things I have said will happen again; mega-tsunnami's, astroids, ices-ages (unless global warming takes care of that), and solar flares. And so will a super-volcanic exploision. But, it may be thousands of years away until any of them happen. There are far more urgent disastours to deal with in the short term, like Iraq.

Answer 4

The caldera under yellowstone is the biggest active volcano in the world, however there has to be reason when considering this volcano, It is likely to explode and some point and when it does it will likely kill half of the world in the first instance and starve the rest of the world for many years to come.

However this is the worst case scenario yellowstone is watched very considerably and it is my expectation that if such a large body of magma was to begin moving this would be watched remotely and in enough time that many mitigation methods may be in place.

On another note Giant/Mega Tsunamis do not exist whatsoever, there is 100% no evidence of them within the rock record and anyone who says so is fool.

Supervolocano and Asteroids are the only known cataclismic events within the rock record.

I would like to note as well that whilst the US as a whole considers global warming to be untrue - its track record with environmental impact is exemplary, certain states are try and keep to kyoto.

So before you start throwing around your racist hate, get the facts straight before you come on here and look a fool

Answer 5

"Scientists have revealed that it has been on a regular eruption cycle of 600,000 years. The last eruption was 640,000 years ago... so the next is overdue."

There is record of one 1.2 million years ago, and one 600,000 years ago.

It is a statistical fallacy to say two points make a trend and an eruption is overdue.

Yet another example of bad science, or at least bad scientific reporting of the press.

Answer 6

(a) I don't think that Yellowstone Park is in New England, where Yankees come from
(b) There's nothing that even the most ardent environmentalist could do about it if it goes bang, is there? It's the opposite of a "green issue" - it's part of the planet we live and die on.

Answer 7

And what if it happened at the peak of tourist season when the park is full of families from all over the world including Great Britain.....

Answer 8

i geuss theres a price to pay for a paradise. and we get 3 out of every 4 tornadoes in the world

Answer 9

well we havent been dragging our feet at all on environmental issues,if thats what you believe(I believe,your very misinformed on our epa standards and water cleanup processes)but it sure would scare the hell out of the globalwarmist crowds that keep trying to ram that bull down our throats,but look on the bright side,a volcano of that magnitude would probably send pyroplasm clouds all the way to England also,I think I'd rather be near ground zero if it happens,than to die slowly from mass starvation

Answer 10

Yanks? I belive the Civil War has been over for MANY years.....who are these Yanks you are refering to?

Answer 11

I think its awesome. But understand that if the US goes world chaos will follow.