Super Volcano about to blow?

BlkbrryTheGreat · Post by **BlkbrryTheGreat** » 2003-09-10 05:20pm

Darth Wong wrote:I'm a little fuzzy on the mechanism by which a volume of superheated water actually becomes more dangerous when mass/energy is removed from it.

Well in the case the author is incorrect, the water itself would not actually "explode". The danger is that by reducing the amount of superheated water your also reducing the amount of pressure exerted by the water on the surrounding rock. This means that the pressure being exerted on the magma chamber (in which magma/gas has been building up for tens of thousands of years) is now not being countered with sufficient force to contain the "seal" which prevents it from exploding catastrophically.

BlkbrryTheGreat · Post by **BlkbrryTheGreat** » 2003-09-10 05:24pm

Correction: The magma chamber has been filling up for HUNDREDS of thousands of years. 640,000 to be precise. Also, sources indicate that the Yellowstone Volcano erupts almost preceisely every 600,000 years meaning that we're 40,000 years overdue..... the ground in Yellowstone is also 74 cm higher then it was in 1923... just to give you an idea of the enormous pressure being exerted by the magma chamber beneath Yellowstone.

Alyeska · Post by **Alyeska** » 2003-09-10 05:32pm

Howedar wrote:Source please.

Discovery channel special on super volcanoes and earth science education in high school.

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2003-09-10 05:54pm

I'll believe that when I see it.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2003-09-10 06:17pm

Shit, it just erupted!

Oh wait, Dante's Peak was on ITV1 just now.

Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi · Post by **Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi** » 2003-09-10 06:34pm

Let's see... supervolcanoes, kilometer-high tidal waves, asteroids, that's it, I'm moving to the moon!

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2003-09-10 06:55pm

Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi wrote:Let's see... supervolcanoes, kilometer-high tidal waves, asteroids, that's it, I'm moving to the moon!

The single most cratered body in the solar system. Yes, I'm sure your new trouble free life will be a breeze.

beyond hope · Post by **beyond hope** » 2003-09-10 08:55pm

At least we won't have to wait for Planet X to kill us all now.

BlkbrryTheGreat · Post by **BlkbrryTheGreat** » 2003-09-10 08:56pm

Howedar wrote:I'll believe that when I see it.

Then you'll be believing it shortly before you find out if belif in God is justified (if you see it first hand and not on TV anyway).

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2003-09-10 11:50pm

I'll never have to believe it because its a load of bunk.

Vertigo1 · Post by **Vertigo1** » 2003-09-11 02:07am

Nathan F wrote:Meh, nice and safe here in East Tennessee.

*realizes he is sitting on a fault line*

Uhm...eh, well, my house in middle Tennessee is still safe.

Yeah well, I'm sitting right on-top of the New-Madrid fault line.

(for those that don't know, this is the fault line that caused the Mississippi River to run BACKARDS for three days IIRC, and later forming Reelfoot Lake.

Vertigo1 · Post by **Vertigo1** » 2003-09-11 02:17am

Howedar wrote:I'll believe that when I see it.

I believe this is what Alyeska is referring to:

http://armageddononline.tripod.com/volcano.htm wrote:What happened during the last eruption of a super volcano?
The last eruption of a super volcano was in Toba, Sumatra, 75,000 years ago. It had 10,000 times the explosive force of Mount St. Helens and changed life on Earth forever. Thousands of cubic kilometres of ash was thrown into the atmosphere - so much that it blocked out light from the sun all over the world. 2,500 miles away 35 centimetres of ash coated the ground. Global temperatures plummeted by 21 degrees. The rain would have been so poisoned by the gasses that it would have turned black and strongly acidic. Man was pushed to the edge of extinction, the population forced down to just a couple of thousand. Three quarters of all plants in the northern hemisphere were killed.

Keep in mind that I haven't taken the time to check the validity of the site's claims so take it for a grain of salt.

El Moose Monstero · Post by **El Moose Monstero** » 2003-09-11 04:18am

Vertigo1 wrote:
Howedar wrote:I'll believe that when I see it.
I believe this is what Alyeska is referring to:

http://armageddononline.tripod.com/volcano.htm wrote:What happened during the last eruption of a super volcano?
The last eruption of a super volcano was in Toba, Sumatra, 75,000 years ago. It had 10,000 times the explosive force of Mount St. Helens and changed life on Earth forever. Thousands of cubic kilometres of ash was thrown into the atmosphere - so much that it blocked out light from the sun all over the world. 2,500 miles away 35 centimetres of ash coated the ground. Global temperatures plummeted by 21 degrees. The rain would have been so poisoned by the gasses that it would have turned black and strongly acidic. Man was pushed to the edge of extinction, the population forced down to just a couple of thousand. Three quarters of all plants in the northern hemisphere were killed.
Keep in mind that I haven't taken the time to check the validity of the site's claims so take it for a grain of salt.

Not too sure about the descriptive stuff, but I do remember that there was something like 2 million km cubed of pyroclastics realeased and the result was a massive temperature drop, we never really examined the visual effects, it was more of a footnote in a lecture, so I can't tell you anything more on that.

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2003-09-11 04:29am

You know, I once thought about writing a fic about a race that was forced
underground by a massive enviromental disaster....

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-09-11 03:02pm

MKSheppard wrote:You know, I once thought about writing a fic about a race that was forced
underground by a massive enviromental disaster....

Not exactly an original idea, though I'm sure you'd put an interesting twist on it.

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2003-09-11 04:26pm

Sea Skimmer wrote: Not exactly an original idea, though I'm sure you'd put an interesting twist on it.

HOW DID YOU GUESS I WAS GOING TO MAKE THEM CROSS THE
BLASTED WASTES IN 10,000 TON LAND BATTLESHIPS ON 10
FOOT WIDETREADS WITH 12 INCH GUNS!?!?

The Cleric · Post by **The Cleric** » 2003-09-11 04:59pm

So, I guess this would be a good time to screw like a rabbit?

Raptor 597 · Post by **Raptor 597** » 2003-09-11 05:12pm

I'm relatively safe. I'm barely east of the Mississippie, so maybe I can watch some black death cloud quickly approaching.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-09-11 05:26pm

MKSheppard wrote:
HOW DID YOU GUESS I WAS GOING TO MAKE THEM CROSS THE
BLASTED WASTES IN 10,000 TON LAND BATTLESHIPS ON 10
FOOT WIDETREADS WITH 12 INCH GUNS!?!?

So it's that idea, I thought those people where suppose to live in big surface armored domes covered in gun turrets?

Vertigo1 · Post by **Vertigo1** » 2003-09-12 12:35am

The_Lumberjack wrote:Not too sure about the descriptive stuff, but I do remember that there was something like 2 million km cubed of pyroclastics realeased and the result was a massive temperature drop, we never really examined the visual effects, it was more of a footnote in a lecture, so I can't tell you anything more on that.

Yeah, I'll do some more digging. I do remember the special that Alyeska is referring to, though I only caught the part about that island off the coast of Africa that would cause that mega-tsunami that would basically do alot of damage to the eastern side of the US.

Sriad · Post by **Sriad** » 2003-09-12 12:44am

StormTrooperTR889 wrote:So, I guess this would be a good time to screw like a rabbit?

Is there ever a bad time?

Chardok · Post by **Chardok** » 2003-09-12 10:17am

Sometimes I wonder if there is a spot on the world AT ALL that is relatively safe from natural disasters....

Perhaps CENTRAL australia? Nope...lots of asteroid impact craters there... Antarctica? Die of exposure....central asia? Radiation....Makes one wonder how we managed to survive this long, doesn't it? what with all the fault lines, asteroid impacts, eruptions, carbon dioxide gas releases, solar flares.../sigh
the things we take for granted.....

El Moose Monstero · Post by **El Moose Monstero** » 2003-09-12 10:29am

Chardok wrote:Sometimes I wonder if there is a spot on the world AT ALL that is relatively safe from natural disasters....

Perhaps CENTRAL australia? Nope...lots of asteroid impact craters there... Antarctica? Die of exposure....central asia? Radiation....Makes one wonder how we managed to survive this long, doesn't it? what with all the fault lines, asteroid impacts, eruptions, carbon dioxide gas releases, solar flares.../sigh
the things we take for granted.....

Awww bugger it, nowhere is safe, I'm killing myself now, but I'm taking you all with me... in a really big suitcase...

Andrew J. · Post by **Andrew J.** » 2003-09-12 03:39pm

Upstate NY, whre I live, is pretty disaster-free. The occasional blizzard, some summer thunderstorms, a puny earthquake once a decade maybe...it's not too bad, considering.

Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi · Post by **Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi** » 2003-09-12 11:24pm

Andrew J. wrote:Upstate NY, whre I live, is pretty disaster-free. The occasional blizzard, some summer thunderstorms, a puny earthquake once a decade maybe...it's not too bad, considering.

It's even better in western PA where I used to live. It was too far inland to be affected by hurricanes, and I don't think I've ever seen a tornado or flood in my life. And there isn't much snow either, a foot or two at most.