Discussion
A brief article in the times today, highlighting a forthcoming BBC docudrama on an eruption scenario.
There is a lot more in Bryson's "A history of nearly everything" (Utterly fascinating book, if like me your interested in anything and everything).
For those that havent seen it, every 50k years on average, a sodding huge volcano goes (Something that makes Krakatoa look like a firecracker in a tin)
Now most of these are inactive worldwide, however vulcanologists can never be 100% sure.
The one with the most desrtuctive potential is.... Yellowstone national park in the USA. Its a huge flat area... one thats actually a crater from previous eruptions, one previous was apparently the second largest ever in the history of the earth.
Now what do we do when and if the US is partially vaporised and covered in inches of volcanic dust? (the entire US....).
There are enough of these flashpoints that one will go, at some time... If not yellowstone there are perhaps a dozen others globally...
There are enough "global killer" scenarios, each more unlikely than the next, but with Mt.St. Helens spewing a 7k high plume of smoke today, the tectonic instability of the states looks more and more relevant.
There is a lot more in Bryson's "A history of nearly everything" (Utterly fascinating book, if like me your interested in anything and everything).
For those that havent seen it, every 50k years on average, a sodding huge volcano goes (Something that makes Krakatoa look like a firecracker in a tin)
Now most of these are inactive worldwide, however vulcanologists can never be 100% sure.
The one with the most desrtuctive potential is.... Yellowstone national park in the USA. Its a huge flat area... one thats actually a crater from previous eruptions, one previous was apparently the second largest ever in the history of the earth.
Now what do we do when and if the US is partially vaporised and covered in inches of volcanic dust? (the entire US....).
There are enough of these flashpoints that one will go, at some time... If not yellowstone there are perhaps a dozen others globally...
There are enough "global killer" scenarios, each more unlikely than the next, but with Mt.St. Helens spewing a 7k high plume of smoke today, the tectonic instability of the states looks more and more relevant.
nel said:
Mankind will probably have rendered life on earth untenable by the time the next eruption comes around, given a 50k year cycle. Krakatoa was around 1880 wasn't it (?), so we've got a way to go before the next one is due.
Krakatoa wasn't a supervolcano, though it was jolly large! (Edited to say August 1883)
The last supervolcanic eruption was Tambora on Sumbawa, also in Indonesia. It created 150km3 of ejecta (cf 1km3 for St Helens and 21km3 for Krakatoa)
Apparently Yellowstone super-erupts every 600,000 years on average, and is about 30-50,000 years overdue. Should be interesting....
Edited to say jimothy got there before me with useful statistic!
>> Edited by diddyman on Wednesday 9th March 15:20
>> Edited by diddyman on Wednesday 9th March 15:21
Deltafox said:
The canary islands are due to have a wee lanslide as well before too much longer......apparently the volume of material that will drop into the sea is.....wait for it.....41 cubic kilometers........
Thatll be making a bit of a splash then.
We'll be a little bit buggered then...Being in between Las Palmas and the East Coast. (Oh and the highest point here is 300ft above Sea Level)
Ah well, if it happens I have full confidence in the Bermuda Government being able to evacuate 65,000 people in 7 hours
>> Edited by juice on Wednesday 9th March 15:35
Deltafox said:
The canary islands are due to have a wee lanslide as well before too much longer......apparently the volume of material that will drop into the sea is.....wait for it.....41 cubic kilometers........
Thatll be making a bit of a splash then.
I wonder if any terrorists are plotting to help the splash happen any sooner?
Note: the
will be removed if this does actually happen b17nns said:
would yellowstone therefore not make a good potential terrorist target for a nuclear device?
dig a very deep hole. install asaid device, move to a safe distance and destory the united states.
Define safe distance...
Problem with this scenario is the amount of dust raised would probably obscure the sun worldwide, leading to ambient temperatures dropping by 50 degrees or so. Same theory as the meteorite strike/volcano that took out our scaley ancestors the dinosaurs.
So unless the terrorists want to wipe the whole world out as part of their jihad, it probably isn't a great idea....
juice said:
The canary islands are due to have a wee lanslide as well before too much longer......apparently the volume of material that will drop into the sea is.....wait for it.....41 cubic kilometers........
Thatll be making a bit of a splash then.
We'll be a little bit buggered then...Being in between Las Palmas and the East Coast. (Oh and the highest point here is 300ft above Sea Level)
Ah well, if it happens I have full confidence in the Bermuda Government being able to evacuate 65,000 people in 7 hours
>> Edited by juice on Wednesday 9th March 15:35
There was a TV programme a while ago on these super tsunamis, the most recent occurred in Alaska (I Think) when a side of a mountain dropped into a bay and set off a huge wave lifting a couple of fishermen in their boat over an island and plonking them into the ocean on the other side. Since then they have found evidence of similar events around the world including Scotland thanks to an event in the Norwegian fjords.
As for the Canary Islands that is due to happen soon, something to do with trapped rain water, the heat from the volcanic activity and the type of non porous rock that traps the water in between the cracks (One runs all the way along this cliff face). Apparently as the rainwater heats up, turns to steam and expands it has nowhere to go except outwards slowly forcing the cliff away from the island and making one big splash !!!
b17nns said:
So unless the terrorists want to wipe the whole world out as part of their jihad, it probably isn't a great idea....
why would it bother them? there will be 100 virgins waiting at the gates along with Allah ready to give them a pat on the back.
I'm far from an expert on the subject, but the ultimate objective is to smite the unbelievers is it not? Simultaneously wiping out all the believers too would probably piss allah off a tad...
nel said:
50 degrees? More like 3-5.
What - virtually no solar radiation reaching the surface of the earth and you reckon on a 3 degree change in temperature? I'm guessing, but I think you're wrong...
Toba, which erupted about 75,000 years ago threw 2800km3 of ejecta into the air and only dropped the average temp by 3C. Tambora dropped it by only 0.7C, Krakatoa 0.3C
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