Yellowstone's Volcano (50%) Larger Than Thought

[Iamwhomiam]

Yellowstone's Volcano (50%) Larger Than Thought
By Becky Oskin, OurAmazingPlanet Staff Writer | LiveScience.com – Thu, Apr 18, 2013 9:47 AM EDT

SALT LAKE CITY — Yellowstone's underground volcanic plumbing is bigger and better connected than scientists thought, researchers reported here today (April 17) at the Seismological Society of America's annual meeting.

"We are getting a much better understanding of the volcanic system of Yellowstone," said Jamie Farrell, a seismology graduate student at the University of Utah. "The magma reservoir is at least 50 percent larger than previously imaged."

Knowing the volume of molten magma beneath Yellowstone is important for estimating the size of future eruptions, Farrell told OurAmazingPlanet.

Supervolcano trail

Geologists believe Yellowstone sits over a hotspot, a plume of superheated rock rising from Earth's mantle. As North America slowly drifted over the hotspot, the Yellowstone plume punched through the continent's crust, leaving a bread-crumb-like trail of calderas created by massive volcanic eruptions along Idaho's Snake River Plain, leading straight to Yellowstone. The last caldera eruption was 640,000 years ago. Smaller eruptions occurred in between and after the big blasts, most recently about 70,000 years ago. [Infographic: Geology of Yellowstone]



The magma chamber seen in the new study fed these smaller eruptions and is the source of the park's amazing hydrothermal springs and geysers. It also creates the surface uplift seen in the park, said Bob Smith, a seismologist at the University of Utah and author of a related study presented at the meeting.

The volcanic plume of partly molten rock that feeds the Yellowstone supervolcano. Yellow and red indicate higher conductivity, green and blue indicate lower conductivity. Made by University of Utah geophysicists and computer scientists, this is the first large-scale 'geoelectric' image of the Yellowstone hotspot.



"This crustal magma body is a little dimple that creates the uplift," Smith said. "It's like putting your finger under a rubber membrane and pushing it up and the sides expand."

Clearer picture

A clearer picture of Yellowstone's shallow magma chamber emerged from earthquakes, whose waves change speed when they travel through molten or solid rock. Farrell analyzed nearby earthquakes to build a picture of the magma chamber.

The underground magma resembles a mutant banana, with a knobby, bulbous end poking up toward the northeast corner of Yellowstone National Park, and the rest of the tubular fruit angling shallowly southwest. It's a single connected chamber, about 37 miles (60 kilometers) long, 18 miles (30 km) wide, and 3 to 7 miles (5 to 12 km) deep.

Previously, researchers had thought the magma beneath Yellowstone was in separate blobs, not a continuous pocket.

The shallowest magma, in the northeast, also matches up with the park's most intense hydrothermal activity, Farrell said. The new study is the best view yet of this zone, which lies outside the youngest caldera rim.

Additional molten rock, not imaged in this study, also exists deeper beneath Yellowstone, scientists think.

Email Becky Oskin or follow her @beckyoskin. Follow us @OAPlanet, Facebook & Google+. Original article on LiveScience's OurAmazingPlanet.

[FourthBase]

That would suck, if our psychotic technological wizards in charge decided to use mountain-shearing/fracking technology to set that off, if that were even possible. Hopefully, not even they would be so psychotic. But they may feel desperate enough, if they felt their reign coming to an end. Kind of like, "If we can't have the world, then nobody can." And just in case this might be seen as an instance of that "Conspiracy Theorists" card from the Illuminati game: Uber-elitist psychos, do not get any ideas.

[elfismiles]

Yellowstone Volcano Eruption in 2014? Are Animals Fleeing Park As ‘An Alert’?
By Zachary Stieber, Epoch Times | March 31, 2014
Last Updated: April 1, 2014 9:06 pm


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_csBXWlUA4


This map from the U.S. Geological Service shows the range of the volcanic ash that was deposited after the biggest of the Yellowstone National Park eruptions around 2.1 million years ago. "These eruptions left behind huge volcanic depressions called “calderas” and spread volcanic ash over large parts of North America," it said. "If another large caldera-forming eruption were to occur at Yellowstone, its effects would be worldwide. Thick ash deposits would bury vast areas of the United States, and injection of huge volumes of volcanic gases into the atmosphere could drastically affect global climate. Fortunately, the Yellowstone volcanic system shows no signs that it is headed toward such an eruption in the near future. In fact, the probability of any such event occurring at Yellowstone within the next few thousand years is exceedingly low."

A number of bloggers are posting videos that show bison and other animals allegedly leaving Yellowstone National Park, prompting theories that as earthquakes ramp up the seismic activity will set off the Yellowstone supervolcano.

Two of the main bloggers behind the discussion stress that there’s no way to know when the supervolcano will go off but note that the 4.8 magnitude earthquake that hit on March 30 seemed to set off a reaction from the animals, who are moving for a reason.

“Whether I believe this, or whether I don’t believe the story or not, I don’t know. I can tell you this story I saw this morning about the buffaloes running the street … whether or not it’s because of any activity in Yellowstone or not, I don’t know,” said blogger Jay Lee, who posted a story on his site tatoott1009.com.

“But I’ll tell you this, whatever the case may be, that their running away from Yellowstone is an alert of some sort.”

“It also could be from this video, where poachers are killing them, chasing them, abusing them, running them around,” he said. “Could be hundreds of things for them to be running. I wanted you to listen [to the videos] and make up your own mind on what to think. “

A series of smaller quakes have hit the region over the past few weeks, and those quakes have been linked to the recent 5.1 magnitude quake (and aftershocks) that hit in the Los Angeles region.

Tom Lupshu, who describes himself as a “noted Ohio survivalist and search-and-rescue expert,” said on YouTube that nearly one quarter of the northern elk herd at Yellowstone National Park are missing, according to the annual winter count.

“Biologists aren’t sure if there’s been a stunning decline in the herd or if other factors have skewed the tally,” he said. “Current Helium releases at 1000 times above normal. Complete media blackout. Herds of bison running for their lives on the public roadways and they were not being chased or rounded up, the bison were running down the mountain slopes onto roadways running right past a filming crew. They detect something vast and deadly. The Yellowstone Supervolcano is the only thing there that would fit the bill.”

Lupshu said in a later video that scientists say they can’t predict when the Supervolcano will erupt.

“But one thing is for sure. The more the Earthquakes in the region, the more are the chances of the volcano being activated from its dormant state. Last time an earthquake struck in 1980. But the force of nature has acted up once again.”

The supervolcano refers to the huge magma chamber beneath the park, which is in Wyoming.

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/593833- ... -an-alert/

[elfismiles]

Scientists dismiss claims that Yellowstone volcano about to erupt
ReutersBy Laura Zuckerman | Reuters – 16 hrs ago.
http://news.yahoo.com/scientists-dismis ... 51568.html

[elfismiles]

Super Volcano is Bigger (Video)
Posted: Jul 08, 2014 7:08 PM CDT Updated: Jul 09, 2014 3:04 PM CDT
By Penny Preston
http://www.kulr8.com/story/25970770/sup ... -is-bigger

Hot spot: Yellowstone road melts, closing sites
http://news.yahoo.com/hot-spot-yellowst ... 05778.html

[stillrobertpaulsen]

The irony is so rich it'll smother us like lava. Nature truly does bat last, to tip my hat McPherson's way.

[justdrew]

couldn't we drill some small tubes into it and slowly release the pressure that way?

[stillrobertpaulsen]

That would suck, if our psychotic technological wizards in charge decided to use mountain-shearing/fracking technology to set that off, if that were even possible. Hopefully, not even they would be so psychotic. But they may feel desperate enough, if they felt their reign coming to an end. Kind of like, "If we can't have the world, then nobody can." And just in case this might be seen as an instance of that "Conspiracy Theorists" card from the Illuminati game: Uber-elitist psychos, do not get any ideas.

From your mouth to a Teabagger's mind:

Wyoming Gubernatorial Candidate Calls For Drilling In Yellowstone National Park

By Scott Keyes July 16, 2014 at 11:54 am


The Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park could soon be dotted with mining equipment and oil derricks

CREDIT: Shutterstock

There is perhaps no national park more sacrosanct to America than Yellowstone. Anyone who has marveled at its Old Faithful Geyser or looked out at its large herds of roaming bison or stood in awe at its cascading waterfalls has, whether they knew it or not, been the beneficiary of a massively successful government program: conservation of public lands.

But Yellowstone National Park’s days as a pristine ecological retreat could be numbered if Wyoming gubernatorial candidate Taylor Haynes (R) gets his way.

Haynes, a physician and former trustee at the University of Wyoming, wants all national parks and federal lands in Wyoming to be turned over to the state. According to the Casper Star Tribune, Haynes wants to allow all lands in Wyoming, including Yellowstone, to be leased for drilling, mining, and grazing. “We will manage every square inch of Wyoming,” the gubernatorial hopeful said.

The chance that there could soon be drilling in Yellowstone, which in 1872 became the first national park in the world, is exceedingly slim. Haynes is challenging incumbent Gov. Matt Mead (R), who opposes drilling in Yellowstone, in the August 19th primary. Election analysts expect Mead to prevail handily.

Still, Haynes is not the only politician who wants to sully national parks by letting oil and mineral companies in. Others, including Reps. Pete Olson (R-TX), Michele Bachmann (R-MN), and Rob Bishop (R-UT), also want to open up public lands for drilling. Bishop, who chairs the House Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation, downplayed his plan, telling ThinkProgress that he wanted to allow mining around the Grand Canyon in an area merely the size of New Jersey.

Even as drilling in national parks is favored by many Tea Partiers, polling shows that the vast majority of Western voters, including Republicans, actually prefer conservation. The Center for Western Priorities recently surveyed voters, finding that two-in-three Western voters were more likely to support a candidate who wanted to enhance protections for public lands, including 59 percent of Republicans. Three-quarters of Western voters said they opposed proposals to sell off public lands.

[stillrobertpaulsen]

Eruption of Yellowstone supervolcano could spell the end of the U.S.: geologists
By Scott Kaufman
Monday, September 1, 2014 9:32 EDT



According to an article published by United States Geological Survey scientist Larry Mastin in the latest edition of Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, an eruption of the supervolcano beneath Yellowstone National Park would blanket much of the United States in a meter of ash.

Mastin and his colleagues used computer modeling to determine the effects of the kind of ash cloud — known as an “umbrella” — the supervolcano would produce. A supereruption would eject 240 cubic miles of material into the atmosphere, which would not only shut down electronic communication and render air travel impossible, it would immediately and dramatically alter climate across the continent.

The supervolcano beneath Yellowstone has produced eruptions of this scale at least three times — once 2.1 million year ago, once 1.3 million, and most recently, 640,00 years ago. Mastin and his team used data on ash distribution from the most recent eruption to calculate the thickness of the ash fall from another potential supereruption, and found that cities close to the supervolcano would be buried beneath more than a meter of ash.

The “umbrella” ash cloud would deposit ash as far away as New York and Los Angeles, but the damage to the central region of the country would make it difficult, if not impossible, for the two coasts to have any meaningful communication with each other.

Even the small accumulation of ash on the East and West Coast would create massive problems for the population. Traction on roads would be significantly decreased, leading to more automobile accidents; electrical transformers would be shorted-out; sewer and water lines would be blocked; crops would be ruined; and individuals with respiratory problems would find it difficult, if not impossible, to breathe.

Such a cloud would spread across the country in a bull’s eye pattern, because the force of the ejection and the composition of the ejected material would make the cloud more powerful than the prevailing winds.

“In essence, the eruption makes its own winds that can overcome the prevailing westerlies, which normally dominate weather patterns in the United States,” Mastin said. “This helps explain the distribution from large Yellowstone eruptions of the past, where considerable amounts of ash reached the West Coast.”

[RocketMan]

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015 ... ma-chamber

Yellowstone national park: scientists discover huge magma chamber

Deep beneath Yellowstone national park, one of the world’s most dynamic volcanic systems, lies an enormous, previously unknown reservoir of hot, partly molten rock big enough to fill up the Grand Canyon 11 times, scientists say.


Researchers on Thursday said they used a technique called seismic tomography to a produce for the first time a complete picture of the volcanic “plumbing system” at Yellowstone, from Earth’s mantle up to the surface.

Yellowstone, which straddles the borders of Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, and boasts a remarkable array of geothermal features including geysers, mudpots, steam vents and hot springs, sits atop a super volcano that has had three calamitous eruptions.

Scientists already knew of a large magma chamber under Yellowstone that fed the eruptions 2m, 1.2m and 640,000 years ago. The new study, published in the journal Science, revealed a second, deeper reservoir 4.5 times larger.

“The existence of the second magma chamber does not make it any more or less likely that a large volcanic eruption at Yellowstone will occur. These findings do not change the current volcanic hazard at Yellowstone,” University of Utah seismologist Jamie Farrell said.

“However, these new findings do provide us, and other researchers, the information needed to gain a better understanding of how magma moves from the mantle to the surface,” Farrell said.

University of Utah geology and geophysics professor Fan-Chi Lin said the blob-shaped lower magma reservoir in Earth’s lower crust was located 12 to 28 miles (19 to 45km) under Yellowstone, with a volume of 11,500 cubic miles (48,000 cubic km), or 11.2 times the volume of Arizona’s Grand Canyon.

This magma chamber is filled with hot, mostly solid and sponge-like rock with portions of molten rock within it. The researchers said about 2% of it was completely molten.

The upper and lower magma chambers sit above a “plume”, or upwelling, originating in Earth’s mantle about 40 miles (64km) underground and transferring hot materials toward the surface.

Scientists had previously suspected a lower magma chamber existed, but had been unable to confirm it.

The researchers said the technique they used, seismic tomography, was analogous to a CT scan of the body, using seismic waves as they travel through Earth to image the subsurface, distinguishing between rock of various densities.

They also combined both local and distant earthquake measurements to image Yellowstone’s complete magma system.

[Nordic]

eruptions 2m, 1.2m and 640,000 years ago.

Seems pretty regular. Like "Old Faithful". Seems we're just about due another blast. Give or take a few thousand years.

I've had this strong notion, for quite some time, to move to the Southern Hemisphere ....

[82_28]

Unless there's a crazy huge low pressure system when it does erupt, LA probably won't be affected for many months after it. Much like Seattle was mostly untouched from Mount St. Helens fallout while Portland got inches of ash. We even got ash in Denver. Seattle was essentially spared.

[NeonLX]

eruptions 2m, 1.2m and 640,000 years ago.

Seems pretty regular. Like "Old Faithful". Seems we're just about due another blast. Give or take a few thousand years.

I've had this strong notion, for quite some time, to move to the Southern Hemisphere ....

New Zealand appeals to me in a very big way.

So does Iceland, but things are a bit bubbly underground there.

[Twyla LaSarc]

eruptions 2m, 1.2m and 640,000 years ago.

So does Iceland, but things are a bit bubbly underground there.

The last eruptions definitely spelled out the truth of iceland. That the entire country was at risk of losing both domestic animals and wildlife from poisonous gasses and humans were strapping on respirators just to go outside speaks volumes about the precarity of life there. Probably one reason that the economic eurosphere let them go somewhat peacefully.

[MinM]

Yellowstone's Volcano (50%) Larger Than Thought
By Becky Oskin, OurAmazingPlanet Staff Writer | LiveScience.com – Thu, Apr 18, 2013 9:47 AM EDT

SALT LAKE CITY — Yellowstone's underground volcanic plumbing is bigger and better connected than scientists thought, researchers reported here today (April 17) at the Seismological Society of America's annual meeting.

"We are getting a much better understanding of the volcanic system of Yellowstone," said Jamie Farrell, a seismology graduate student at the University of Utah. "The magma reservoir is at least 50 percent larger than previously imaged."

Knowing the volume of molten magma beneath Yellowstone is important for estimating the size of future eruptions, Farrell told OurAmazingPlanet.

Supervolcano trail

Geologists believe Yellowstone sits over a hotspot, a plume of superheated rock rising from Earth's mantle. As North America slowly drifted over the hotspot, the Yellowstone plume punched through the continent's crust, leaving a bread-crumb-like trail of calderas created by massive volcanic eruptions along Idaho's Snake River Plain, leading straight to Yellowstone. The last caldera eruption was 640,000 years ago. Smaller eruptions occurred in between and after the big blasts, most recently about 70,000 years ago. [Infographic: Geology of Yellowstone]

There was an episode of Warehouse 13 where HG Wells (Jaime Murray) was preparing to tap into the energy in that hot spot in order to destroy the planet. So there's that.