Yellowstone Has Bulged as Magma Pocket Swells

[cali]

Some places saw the ground rise by ten inches, experts report.

Brian Handwerk

for National Geographic News

Published January 19, 2011

Yellowstone National Park's supervolcano just took a deep "breath," causing miles of ground to rise dramatically, scientists report.

The simmering volcano has produced major eruptions—each a thousand times more powerful than Mount St. Helens's 1980 eruption—three times in the past 2.1 million years. Yellowstone's caldera, which covers a 25- by 37-mile (40- by 60-kilometer) swath of Wyoming, is an ancient crater formed after the last big blast, some 640,000 years ago.


Since then, about 30 smaller eruptions—including one as recent as 70,000 years ago—have filled the caldera with lava and ash, producing the relatively flat landscape we see today.

But beginning in 2004, scientists saw the ground above the caldera rise upward at rates as high as 2.8 inches (7 centimeters) a year. (Related: "Yellowstone Is Rising on Swollen 'Supervolcano.'")

The rate slowed between 2007 and 2010 to a centimeter a year or less. Still, since the start of the swelling, ground levels over the volcano have been raised by as much as 10 inches (25 centimeters) in places.

<snip>

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/01/110119-yellowstone-park-supervolcano-eruption-magma-science/

[WinkyDink]

1. This is REALLY not good news.

[PBS Poll-435]

2. Oh Yeah, I saw '2012'

Still in therapy because it was such a terrible and long film.




(However...Yellowstone is where the gov't got a hint that a catastrophe might happen...)

[Ichingcarpenter]

34. How did John Cusak drive all the way to LA in 5 hours?

from Yellowstone with two kids?


I still will and do pay attention to what Yellowstone is doing though.

[PBS Poll-435]

41. Lincoln Town Car limos bend space and time

:scared:

[UTUSN]

3. Wuh-oh. n/t

[Jokerman]

4. Yellowstone's next volcanic "burp"

I hope they're right that this is just routine and not the buildup for a major eruption.

[wtmusic]

5. Oh baby. nt

[glinda]

6. That is scary.

[Possumpoint]

7. If You Read The Article

You'll see that the 10" is in total and that the rate has slowed down between 07 and 10 to a centimeter or less. Time to take your finger off the big red button. Not that we could do anything about it anyway.

[DCBob]

22. Slowing may be a sign there is restriction and is now building up pressure..

for the big kablooie.

[Urban Prairie]

8. Hope that the supervolcano can hold off erupting for at least several thousand more years

or until some type of technology could possibly be developed and become advanced enough to perhaps somewhat control an induced magma eruption and flow, and vent off excess steam



Yikes!!

[dixiegrrrrl]

27. Whew!!! Thank god for Alabama!

Someone might want to inform Jan Brewer that something is...brewing.

[SpiralHawk]

9. Republicons take over. Yellowstone gets ready to puke.

Coincidence?

No damn way. The planet is puking. Who can blame it?

(Incidentally, it's been almost 3 freaking weeks. Where the hell is my job? Pretty damn clear the Republicons were lying about that, too.)

[phantom power]

10. I just felt my sphincters tighten a little bit

[Buns_of_Fire]

11. Is that magma in its caldera or is it just happy to see us? nt

[cbdo2007]

12. Don't get too excited - this isn't going to happen in our lifetimes.

[Motown_Johnny]

13. and if it does it will be very near the end of our lifetime (self fulfilling prophecy)

The possibility exists for this to happen at any moment. You can't be certain that it isn't exploding as you read this.


The odds are very low of that happening, but not zero.

[Zephie]

14. I'd rather die from a supervolcano than from a slow painful money draining lack of healthcare

At least the super volcano is a once in a 70,000 year occurrence.

[Motown_Johnny]

16. Living in tampa bay you would suffer the fall out and not die from the explosion

if the winds don't carry the ash to far south you would have a better chance then most of the country

[Zephie]

19. I was mostly speaking hypothetically... However my evangelical republican in laws live in Idaho...

:evilgrin:

[krispos42]

15. Maybe I moved to CT from MN just in time

Although if it lets go, even Turkey might not be safe...

[DavidDvorkin]

17. We drove up there last summer

and had a great vacation. But when you live close enough to drive there, this is unsettling news.

[Cleita]

23. I love Yellowstone because it's so unique.

I hope nothing really disastrous happens.

[JVS]

18. Come on! Blow!

[underseasurveyor]

20. Scientists have been watching and have known this for a very long time now.

Nothing new or shocking here. Dozens of documentaries have been made on this subject.

Beside the chances of this super volcano erupting in our life time is very remote.

[ehrnst]

21. That means nothing. Scientist just want to drive tourists away and kill business, like always. (nt)

:sarcasm:

[Warren DeMontague]

24. "Fortunately, the surge doesn't seem to herald an imminent catastrophe"

Sorry to disappoint anyone. :shrug:

[pipi_k]

36. I know...

does anyone ever bother reading these articles all the way through before they go all Chicken Little?

[a la izquierda]

40. hah, i was just thinking the same thing...nt

[hootinholler]

25. And it's one, two, three.

What are fighting for?

-Hoot

[MzShellG]

26. Whoa....interesting.....

Things do seem to be heating up in that area. And more frequent activity as well. I'm going to be paying closer attention to the happenings at Yellowstone myself.

[alfredo]

28. Just what we need.

[Common Sense Party]

29. I was just there in October. It looked fine then.

I didn't even get to fel any tremors.

Bummer.

[apocalypsehow]

30. Unpleasant business to consider. Rec. n/t.

[miyazaki]

31. Gotta get our volcano expert Jindal on the case.

-oh wait...

[Esse Quam Videri]

32. Fascinating!

Thanks for posting. We just finalized a week long trip to Yellowstone last night. I can't wait - we'll be going the first week in June. Yellowstone is just an incredible place!

[Enthusiast]

33. This is some scary shit.

Should we tap into the geothermal energy of Yellowstone? Maybe that would moderate the explosive potential. Anyone?

[Odin2005]

35. I suspect any eruption will be like the small one 70,000 years ago, not like the big ones.

[Celeborn Skywalker]

39. Probably so.

You never know though, we could hit the "jackpot" lol

[Xenotime]

37. Is this happening because of climate change?

[bobbolink]

42. Naw, its gawd's punishment to all us sinners.

:rofl:

[MilesColtrane]

38. If I had to choose, I guess I'd prefer to be taken out immediately rather than...

slowly starve to death from the resulting years of diminished sun light and climate change.

Nasty either way.

[cynatnite]

43. The risks are no greater or less than a catastrophic quake hitting California...

The InLaws are in Montana. The oldest daughter and the kids are in Idaho and live a few hours from Yellowstone.

Everyone is aware of the risks. It's the same in a lot of areas of the world...hurricanes, tornadoes, quakes, and so on.