Super Eruptions at Yellowstone

Krakatoa's 1883 eruption is a VEI 6 on that scale. And as well as that, the pyroclastic flows there reached 40km across the sea to kill 1,000 people. And thats 100 times smaller than two of Yellowstone's eruptions.

en.wikipedia.org...

Pinatubo's eruption in 1991 was also a VEI 6.

en.wikipedia.org...

Originally posted by apex

Pinatubo's eruption in 1991 was also a VEI 6.

The graph you have on the previous page and wikipedia have Pinatubo eruption at a VEI five.

In all, the eruption ejected about ten cubic kilometres

wiki

The graph shows it at the border between 5 and 6, which is what 10km cubed is, the threshold for a VEI 6. The graph shows the sizes in the circles, and Pinatubo was 10km cubed, which is the VEI 6.

Originally posted by apex
The graph shows it at the border between 5 and 6, which is what 10km cubed is, the threshold for a VEI 6. The graph shows the sizes in the circles, and Pinatubo was 10km cubed, which is the VEI 6.

hmm ok. so anything from then cubic kilometers to ninety nine point nine cubic kilometers would be a VEI six.

I had it wrong the first time so edit to correct.

[edit on 6-12-2006 by RedGolem]

1. Great Post I love topics about Yellowstone and Global Warming as they are real threats to human civilization.

2. One thing that has yet come up in this topic is the eruption that took place something like 18,000-25,000 years ago??? Which was basically not a super eruption at all, and was a VEI 0-1 - However had Massive Amounts of Lava Flows. This could keep mean 1 of 2 things. One, that the eruption 18,000 years ago was in fact the Next major Yellowstone eruption keeping with the approx 600,000 year cycle, keeping in line with the "going dormant theory". Or Two, that the eruption 18,000 years was an evolution in the volcanic system that released enough pressure/magma as to lower the VEI of the next super eruption.

3. It is my theory that Major Volcanic eruption are the sole cause of Ice Ages and the volcanic eruption itself is caused by global warming, solar activity, scars from disant past and gravitational changes within the near solar system. Its part of my living earth theory.

4. If you like this topic you will also love, the Deccan Traps ... which was the largest lava flow in the history of the earth that took place in India, amazingly took place 65 million years ago... around the same time as the KT Yukatan Extinction Level Asteroid/Comet #@#$% Event that destroyed the dinosaur era. Of Coarse you can always draw a straigh line between 2 points on a sphere, so the question remains...did the comet hit the earth with enough force to cause the Deccan Traps on the other side of the planet? want links? try google or wikipedia. "give a man a fish".

5. On the lighter side of things,

I have a theory on how to prevent the most of the negative parts of a Major VEI 10 Explosion at yellowstone or Toba. First you must understand that yes the lava is very destructive, and the explostion itself is massive and destructive, but the biggest threat is the ASH. you can't breath it in because when it mixed with water it turns back into STONE. It will cover hundreds of square miles and after the first rain the weight of it will crush weaker structures. It also prevents rescue crews from entering the area and saving lives.

Here's my theory. We cover Yellowstone with a 7000 km Condom that will catch all of the ASH as it flyes out. This giant Ash ball can then be carried by superman to the ocean where it will turn to stone and sink to the bottom. We can even get Trojan or Magnum to sponser the whole thing. If you are super Christian and are opposed to the message that a condom would send to kids then we could use a giant paper towl, and i am sure Bounty would be happy to be the sponser. "nothing tougher" But then we wouldn't have the cool looking tip. read between the lines and have a Super Day!

Just in case any one would like to see some video footage hear are a few links.

Lava flows

Hear is a time laps video of a small eruption but does also have some good cloud formations.

A short video of lava flow at Hawaii

Video showing the 1980 of St. Hellons.

A one hour and thirteen min. lecture on volcanos and Mt. St. Hellons

[edit on 6-12-2006 by RedGolem]

Originally posted by Where2Hide2006
2. One thing that has yet come up in this topic is the eruption that took place something like 18,000-25,000 years ago??? Which was basically not a super eruption at all, and was a VEI 0-1 - However had Massive Amounts of Lava Flows. This could keep mean 1 of 2 things. One, that the eruption 18,000 years ago was in fact the Next major Yellowstone eruption keeping with the approx 600,000 year cycle, keeping in line with the "going dormant theory". Or Two, that the eruption 18,000 years was an evolution in the volcanic system that released enough pressure/magma as to lower the VEI of the next super eruption.

3. It is my theory that Major Volcanic eruption are the sole cause of Ice Ages and the volcanic eruption itself is caused by global warming, solar activity, scars from disant past and gravitational changes within the near solar system. Its part of my living earth theory.

4. If you like this topic you will also love, the Deccan Traps ... which was the largest lava flow in the history of the earth that took place in India, amazingly took place 65 million years ago... around the same time as the KT Yukatan Extinction Level Asteroid/Comet #@#$% Event that destroyed the dinosaur era. Of Coarse you can always draw a straigh line between 2 points on a sphere, so the question remains...did the comet hit the earth with enough force to cause the Deccan Traps on the other side of the planet? want links? try google or wikipedia. "give a man a fish".

I know that yellowstone has small eruptions as well, But don't forget that even a VEI 8 eruption doesn't empty the magma chamber. Oh, and can someone please tell me how you get 600,000 years from 2.1 million divided by 3?

I know about the Deccan traps as well, very interesting and even more devastating than Yellowstone. I wonder if that could happen at Yellowstone really, but I don't think we know exactly how you get a Deccan traps sort of eruption.

Good post!

I just found this item on the BBC website, while it doesn't mention Yellowstone, it is saying about a large predatory bird that died out 2 million years ago (according to new research). It just seems maybe it would have been killed by the after effects, such as the ashfall? after all, it would have been one of the larger predators, which are often killed off when such an event happens.

news.bbc.co.uk

Just wonder if anyone has any thoughts on this.

Oh and actually certainly on topic, the Yellowstone lake webicorder keeps looking like this, I can't think why. Perhaps rising magma?

I know that yellowstone has small eruptions as well, But don't forget that even a VEI 8 eruption doesn't empty the magma chamber. Oh, and can someone please tell me how you get 600,000 years from 2.1 million divided by 3?

Big Yellowstone fan here, I go every year.

Without going to check the numbers, I believe the numbers are just shy of 2.1 million years, and the 'average' between eruptions is 640,000 years, not 600,000. Also, if anyone is into statistics, you CAN NOT average the time between events like this based of 3 events. That is simply NOT a statistically relevant sample size.

As far as smaller 'eruptions', which in Yellowstone's history have mainly been caldera filling lava flows, not mini volcanos or anything. This is one of the reason why the current caldera is so suttle. Alot of the crater has been filled back in with flows.

Originally posted by sp00ner

I know that yellowstone has small eruptions as well, But don't forget that even a VEI 8 eruption doesn't empty the magma chamber. Oh, and can someone please tell me how you get 600,000 years from 2.1 million divided by 3?

Without going to check the numbers, I believe the numbers are just shy of 2.1 million years, and the 'average' between eruptions is 640,000 years, not 600,000. Also, if anyone is into statistics, you CAN NOT average the time between events like this based of 3 events. That is simply NOT a statistically relevant sample size.

Which is what I have been saying throughout this thread that you don't get 600,000 years. I know that it's not a very relevant sample size, but we don't really know the exact chances here anyway. And even a small eruption there wouldn't be very good. Not forgetting that it can possibly do anything up to a VEI 8, we know that much.