Yellowstone Super Volcano: Menace or Internet Legend?

[JailForBush]

What's the deal with Yellowstone National Park's "super volcano"? A number of non-mainstream sources have printed some pretty frightening doomsday articles. Yet, there appears to be little cause for concern, judging from this page: http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/yvo/new.html#plain

So what prompted all the shock articles? Is the government really keeping some frightening truths from the public, or are certain individuals merely getting carried away with exaggerations?

If America IS devastated by a super volcano, I hope it blows up under Washington, D.C., Texas or Seattle. Might as well take some scum with it.

[tridim]

1. Seattle?

What's wrong with Seattle?

[regnaD kciN]

7. The only thing wrong with Seattle, as far as I can tell...

...is that the poster lives there himself. Talk about self-loathing on a cosmic scale!

:crazy:

[JailForBush]

10. Spoken like a true Seattleite, utterly oblivious of the stench you

wallow in.

So how do you like the bum you elected Mayor? You know, the derelict who lost $1.1 billion? How do you like the corrupt immigrants' son you elected governor? I'll bet you're also a big fan of Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Safeco Field, Paul Allen's Football Stadium, Paul Allen's Experience Me Jamming Museum and the Seattle School Board.

When the next presidential election is over, you might want to spend a few minutes learning about some of the problems in your own back yard.

[JailForBush]

9. Seattle is a cesspool of corporate corruption.

This is the home of Bill Gates, Boeing, Perkins Coie and the late pedophile Judge Gary Little. Seattle is also distinguished by its unblievably apathetic and stupid citiens, which helps explain why its public schools - along with most other institutions - are so frightening.

I can't honestly measure corruption in various cities and make comparisons, but my perception is that Washington, D.C., Seattle and the Lone Start State rank near the head of the class. They're truly global menaces.

[lcordero]

2. I've heard about this and the pole shift/reversal

I've heard of one more catastrophe but I forgot what it was.

Let me ask you a question. Do you trust the government to tell you the truth?

[JailForBush]

13. Yes, the poles have shifted several times over the eons.

There have been various "Ice Ages," with glaciers in what are now tropical locales. But these events - along with meteorites and super volcanoes - are so few and far between as to be virtually insignificant. If such a super event does occur in our lifetime, there's little we can do about it when Congress can't even protect us from terrorists (including George W. Bush).

Do I trust my government to tell me the truth? Of course not. That's why I was wondering if there's something to these Yellowstone super volcano rumors. If they're true, I certainly wouldn't want to be living within 600 miles of Yellowstone!

But that's merely the death radius. The devastation would presumably extend far beyond that. In fact, such a catastrophe would presumably shatter our economy and instantly transform us into a third world nation.

It would be a true Stephen Gould moment.

[thebaghwan]

3. Kiss my ass, I'm in Seattle

[lcordero]

4. I'd pick Wall Street but

that would be way too close for comfort since I live in the lower Bronx

[xxqqqzme]

5. It was a repeat progrm on Discovery channel

They replay it every few months. The speculation is, after viewing pictures from space, all of yellowstone is one HUGE mother volcano. Try to catch the program - it is really amazing!

[regnaD kciN]

6. Nice to know you want me dead...

If America IS devastated by a super volcano, I hope it blows up under Washington, D.C., Texas or Seattle.

...not to mention my wife and five-year-old daughter.

Time to introduce another name to the the "Ignore" list...

[JailForBush]

12. It's nice to know you wish death on the cittizens of Washington, D.C.

I'm just throwing your own logic in your face.

As for your "ignore list," please use it.

[tkmorris]

8. Oh man

"If America IS devastated by a super volcano, I hope it blows up under Washington, D.C., Texas or Seattle. Might as well take some scum with it."

Dude seriously, what were you thinking with that one?

[JailForBush]

11. "What was I thinking with that one?"

Well, it's really very simple logic, focusing on the word IF.

IF a super volcano was destined to explode, would you hope it took out California or Washington, D.C.? Millions of innocent and basically decent people would die either way, but which event would be cheered by millions of people around the world?

I know it's really difficult for right-wingers and bleeding heart liberals alike to ponder such musings without blowing a gasket or withering under a blaze of self-righteousness. But keep in mind that people who make abstract wishes generally don't have the power to set off volcanoes beneath large cities.

Perhaps you can comprehend that.

[Spider Jerusalem]

14. Yellowstone is a massive caldera.

There's essentially a vast underground lake of magma that goes "BOOM!" every six hundred thousand years or so. The next eruption should occur rather soon on the geological scale, but on that scale "soon" means within the next few tens of thousands of years.

Oh, and it essentially doesn't matter WHERE something like this blows. When an eruption of this magnitude occurs, it is an extinction-level event. The last caldera explosion occurred seventy-four thousand years ago; it caused a volcanic winter (like nuclear winter, only caused by ash and volcanic debris rather than fallout) that lasted several years, and the human population was reduced to no more than a few thousand. If (or rather, when, since it's GOING to happen) there's a caldera explosion, the deaths will probably number in the billions.

And HERE is the transcript of a BBC programme on "supervolcanoes": http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/1999/supervolcanoes_script.shtml

[arcos]

15. It is a menace...

and it is overdue...

however, as the previous poster said, 'soon' in geological time is a few thousand years. So we're just 'slightly' behind... it could happen tomorrow, or it could happen in 95,000 years.