Jan 232011
Yellowstone Has Bulged as Magma Pocket Swells
… beginning in 2004, scientists saw the ground above the caldera rise upward at rates as high as 2.8 inches (7 centimeters) a year. 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.
…
Yellowstone National Park’s supervolcano just took a deep “breath,” causing miles of ground to rise dramatically, scientists report.
Volcanos taking deep breaths before the plunge. Hmmm.
I’m tellin’ ya, if’n I see a bright green jet shoot into the sky from the north-northeast, I’m outta here.
6 Responses to “Yay! We’re DOOOMED!!!”
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What’s the worst that could happen?
The complete destruction of the middle of the United States; the utter collapse of the American economy and agricultural systems, and the end of the US as a functioning nation (never mind superpower); the strict division of the two remaining portions of the country; the complete collapse of aviation over the US and much of the rest of the world; global “nuclear winter;” planetwide agricultural failures, chaos and opportunistic wars. Think of it as “Obama administration on steroids.”
Brings up a question, it does: how might The Worst be avoided or reduced in scope?
How much geothermal power do we need to extract to stop this magma bubble from popping?
> how might The Worst be avoided or reduced in scope?
By being on Mars when it happens.
The magma bubble is *miles* deep, and *miles* wide. The seemingly obvious idea is to drill into it and let it blow down in a controlled fashion; but humans have never drilled that deep. And we’ve never drilled that deep with a bit anywhere near big enough to make a damned bit of difference (say, drill with a bit a hundred yards in diameter…).
The trick is to spread civilization arouns so that The Worst is something that the bulk of humanity reads about on page B-4 for the next days newspaper, and then go on to read the funnies. There once was a time when is an asteroid fell out of the sky (or some plague hit) that wiped out, say, Tanzania, humanity would have been doomed. Now, if all human life in Tanzania was wiped out… let’s face it, the trashing of New Orleans by Katrina would have been bigger news to most people. Yellowstone might go off next year, might go off in a thousand. If it’s next year, we’re boned. In a thousand, it will hopefully be minor news, like a meth lab blowing up in Bumfark, Arkansas.
> How much geothermal power do we need to extract to stop this magma bubble from popping?
Probably more total energy than mankind has ever produced, including H-bombs.