German Supervolcano Ready To Blow?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

If the Yellowstone Caldera erupts, the US will cease to be as a nation, and the entire world will be in deep trouble. The eruption of Krakatoa in the 1880s had an effect on the climate worldwide. The Yellowstone Caldera would make Krakatoa look like popping a pimple.

I'm not sure it would be that bad. A major disaster to be sure, but not fatal.

[Thinking Aloud]

Here's another one worth reading up on...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Taupo ... _volcanism


Just because it's interesting. Again, Krakatoa was barely a butterfly sneeze.

[Coito ergo sum]

If the Yellowstone Caldera erupts, the US will cease to be as a nation, and the entire world will be in deep trouble. The eruption of Krakatoa in the 1880s had an effect on the climate worldwide. The Yellowstone Caldera would make Krakatoa look like popping a pimple.

I'm not sure it would be that bad. A major disaster to be sure, but not fatal.

Maybe not fatal to those farther than, say, 1000 miles from the epicenter, plus the ash being strewn for thousands of mile by the easterly winds, plus the long term climate effects (mainly dramatic cooling globally), and add to that the nearly complete shut down of American farming in the midwest, causing immediate and dramatic food shortages throughout the US and worldwide, and global economic collapse..... other than that, it wouldn't be fatal...

[Gawdzilla Sama]

If the Yellowstone Caldera erupts, the US will cease to be as a nation, and the entire world will be in deep trouble. The eruption of Krakatoa in the 1880s had an effect on the climate worldwide. The Yellowstone Caldera would make Krakatoa look like popping a pimple.

I'm not sure it would be that bad. A major disaster to be sure, but not fatal.

Maybe not fatal to those farther than, say, 1000 miles from the epicenter, plus the ash being strewn for thousands of mile by the easterly winds, plus the long term climate effects (mainly dramatic cooling globally), and add to that the nearly complete shut down of American farming in the midwest, causing immediate and dramatic food shortages throughout the US and worldwide, and global economic collapse..... other than that, it wouldn't be fatal...

Hey, with any luck we'd have a strong wind from the south that day.

[Coito ergo sum]

Is the world's largest super-volcano set to erupt for the first time in 600,000 years, wiping out two-thirds of the U.S.?

It would explode with a force a thousand times more powerful than the Mount St Helens eruption in 1980.
Spewing lava far into the sky, a cloud of plant-killing ash would fan out and dump a layer 10ft deep up to 1,000 miles away.
Two-thirds of the U.S. could become uninhabitable as toxic air sweeps through it, grounding thousands of flights and forcing millions to leave their homes.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... z1iWpvFpcm

Scientists monitoring it believe that a swelling magma reservoir six miles underground may be causing the recent uplifts.
They have also been keeping an eye on a ‘pancake-shaped blob’ of molten rock he size of Los Angeles which was pressed into the volcano some time ago.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... z1iWqNIo5r

[hackenslash]

If the Yellowstone Caldera erupts, the US will cease to be as a nation, and the entire world will be in deep trouble. The eruption of Krakatoa in the 1880s had an effect on the climate worldwide. The Yellowstone Caldera would make Krakatoa look like popping a pimple.

I'm not sure it would be that bad. A major disaster to be sure, but not fatal.

Depends on the scale of the eruption. The Yellowstone caldera is easily of sufficient magnitude that, if it blew on a large scale, it could cheerfully plunge the entire planet into a prolonged winter that lasts for several years, due to the impact of ash clouds high in the atmosphere blocking the sun. If that happens, you can forget global warming, the planet could be plunged out of the current interglacial into a full-on ice age in no time at all.

That's a pretty extreme scenario, but my understanding is that Yellowstone is due a big one, having reached that part of the cycle. Of course, not enough is understood about these cycles to be able to make an informed judgement in terms of probability, but the evidence is sufficient to warrant some speculation that a really major eruption is actually a fair bit overdue, statistically speaking.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

"due" is a range of 600,000 years.

[hackenslash]

Oh, indeed, which is a reflection of what we understand.

[Ian]

Is the world's largest super-volcano set to erupt for the first time in 600,000 years, wiping out two-thirds of the U.S.?

It would explode with a force a thousand times more powerful than the Mount St Helens eruption in 1980.
Spewing lava far into the sky, a cloud of plant-killing ash would fan out and dump a layer 10ft deep up to 1,000 miles away.
Two-thirds of the U.S. could become uninhabitable as toxic air sweeps through it, grounding thousands of flights and forcing millions to leave their homes.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... z1iWpvFpcm

Scientists monitoring it believe that a swelling magma reservoir six miles underground may be causing the recent uplifts.
They have also been keeping an eye on a ‘pancake-shaped blob’ of molten rock he size of Los Angeles which was pressed into the volcano some time ago.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... z1iWqNIo5r

Looks ready to pop to me!

[Coito ergo sum]

"due" is a range of 600,000 years.

Geologically speaking, that's like how fast lunchtime passes when you're at work.

[tattuchu]

I thought Germans were frigid?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

"due" is a range of 600,000 years.

Geologically speaking, that's like how fast lunchtime passes when you're at work.

Maybe Pensioner can give us some perspective?

[JimC]

Virgins must be sacrificed to the volcano gods immediately!

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Virgins must be sacrificed to the volcano gods immediately!

Then it's official, we're fucked.

[Svartalf]

Virgins must be sacrificed to the volcano gods immediately!

I, the avatar of the Volcano God, will take care of this.