Small quakes in Yellowstone,

Well you guys, I know it’s a volcano and everything, but I hope it don’t erupt. People, could get hurt so bad. I hope there’s plenty of warning for everyone before something happens. I wonder if they know before hand if it would happen or not.

shar- I also hope this never blows,

And hopefully there will be warning, The good thing is that there are many ways now set up to monitor volcanoes, so any major changes im sure we would all hear about it first,

Thing is, whilst it may be due an eruption, in geological terms that could either be tomorrow or in 10,000 years.

We'll just have to wait and see.

Maybe it would be a good thing for the environment if it blew up...it would end global warming.

Shar found this that may answer your question,

Q: How much advance notice would there be of an eruption?

A: The science of forecasting a volcanic eruption has significantly advanced over the past 25 years. Most scientists think that the buildup preceding a catastrophic eruption would be detectable for weeks and perhaps months to years. Precursors to volcanic eruptions include strong earthquake swarms and rapid ground deformation and typically take place days to weeks before an actual eruption. Scientists at the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory* (YVO) closely monitor the Yellowstone region for such precursors. They expect that the buildup to larger eruptions would include intense precursory activity (far exceeding background levels) at multiple spots within the Yellowstone volcano. As at many caldera systems around the world, small earthquakes, ground uplift and subsidence, and gas releases at Yellowstone are commonplace events and do not reflect impending eruptions.

www.nps.gov...




Though i do believe that things can still hit unexpected, and sometimes go against what we know or even predict,

But hopefully this would be a text book event in the midst that this did ever happen,

Ok, that is nice then. Sounds like they are on top of things. Looks like there will be plenty of warning to get everyone out.

I have always been scared to go to Yellowstone.

I have heard it’s beautiful, but my luck as soon as I get there, there would be the worse explosion ever. LOL.

Maybe, I’ll get my courage up and go there one day soon. Especially, since I know there will be plenty of warning.

I have heard it’s beautiful, but my luck as soon as I get there, there would be the worse explosion ever. LOL.

lol that made me laugh, I really feel like that when i go somewhere,
Seems to be always my luck that ill go somewhere and something big will happen,

Originally posted by Shar
Ok, that is nice then. Sounds like they are on top of things. Looks like there will be plenty of warning to get everyone out.

Well, no, not really.
IF the caldera does blow, and it is the big one that is predicted, well you could run, but not far enough. Probably few on earth could escape the after effect of the blast. I would almost venture to guess that the ones caught in the blast might be the lucky ones.

Scientists have very few answers, but they do know that the impact of a Yellowstone eruption is terrifying to comprehend. Huge areas of the USA would be destroyed, the US economy would probably collapse, and thousands might die.

The WorldAnd it would devastate the planet. Climatologists now know that Toba blasted so much ash and sulphur dioxide into the stratosphere that it blocked out the sun, causing the Earth's temperature to plummet. Some geneticists now believe that this had a catastrophic effect on human life, possibly reducing the population on Earth to just a few thousand people. Mankind was pushed to the edge of extinction... and it could happen again.

www.bbc.co.uk...

volcanoes.usgs.gov...

Well if true and if this turns into a super volvano guess we can all forget about global warming.

We will freeze to death, die from lack of oxygen or starve first.

DontTreadOnMe,

Well that don’t sound good at all. I guess it will be a winter of all winters. No sun, no food, the earth totally messed up.. Let’s hope this don’t happen.

Yellowstone, is constantly venting. Maybe that’s all it needs. As long as it vents it may not erupt. If it wasn’t venting it would be more dangerous because it would be boiling like a pressure cooker. I don’t know. I really have no clue about volcano’s.

Although, I think the lava flows are pretty when no one is in the way.

I'm actually more worried about Toba. Toba's eruption was greater than Yellowstone's, and there have also been some gigantic earthquakes not so far from Toba within the past few years. Mt. St. Helens' blast was just a little firecracker compared to Toba's great eruption. Toba's eruption was almost 2,800 times greater than Mt. St. Helens' little puff...


Another great New Madrid earthquake is way more likely than a Yellowstone super eruption. And if (when) another great New Madrid earthquake happen, it will be the greatest disaster in the US ever. Hundreds of thousands (if not more) might be killed in such a quake (greater than magnitude 8) - A Mag 8 at the New Madrid fault will be much much worse than if a Mag 8 hit in the middle of Los Angeles. But a New Madrid earthquake will not cause a worldwide volcanic winter...

Originally posted by Hellmutt
I'm actually more worried about Toba. Toba's eruption was greater than Yellowstone's, and there have also been some gigantic earthquakes not so far from Toba within the past few years.

Yes, but we have no way of actually knowing how big the eruption would be, it could be a small vent of lava, or it could be bigger than Toba's, AFAIK the chamber under Yellowstone is easily capable of way larger things than there were previously.

Originally posted by asala
And with the number of small quakes in the US seeming to be up, You just have to wonder if theres any connection,

You know, I've said this a lot lately, but I think it's got something to do with the quake in Sumatra back in 2004. They say that quake was so strong that it actually sped the Earth up by about 3 microseconds in it's rotational velocity. Now THAT's significant. Can anyone else imagine the implications of such a massive shift? That's definitely going to cause global repercussions. Excerpt below provided by wiki:

The shift of mass and the massive release of energy very slightly altered the Earth's rotation. The exact amount is yet undetermined, but theoretical models suggest the earthquake shortened the length of a day by 2.68 microseconds (2.68 µs, or about one billionth of the length of a day), due to a decrease in the oblateness of the Earth.[20] It also caused the Earth to minutely "wobble" on its axis by up to 2.5 cm (1 in) in the direction of 145° east longitude,[21] or perhaps by up to 5 or 6 cm (2.0 to 2.4 in).[22] However, because of tidal effects of the Moon, the length of a day increases at an average of 15 µs per year, so any rotational change due to the earthquake will be lost quickly. Similarly, the natural Chandler wobble of the Earth, which in some cases can be up to 15 m (50 ft), will eventually offset the minor wobble produced by the earthquake.

Now, the question is, is this action responsible for the current spat of quakes that seem to be meandering their way around the globe? I think it is. But then again, that's just my uneducated guess. I'm no geologist, so maybe we should consult one to see if this line of thinking is correct.

TheBorg

Maybe I see to many conspiracies, but reading this thread jogged my memory. I wonder how much others know and don't tell us for fear of panic? A few weeks ago there was a workshop/disaster drill in northeast Arkansas for an earthquake. I noticed it in the news, as I live on the other side of the state.

The last time the New Madrid did a big move, it was so strong that the Mississippi River ran backwards, and that it caused church bells to ring in Philly. That was one humdinger of a quake. With the population growth since then, and the fact that almost no structures in the region are built with quakes in mind, there would be sever loss of life.

The one bright spot might be that such a quake could relieve pressure on Yellowstone if the slippage is the right direction.

Oh well, I'll just worry about things I have some remote chance of doing something about. But I would hate to think that some people would have prior warning, and the rest of us left to our fates.

Heh NGC. I used to live in NE AR. Lived there for 16 years actually, and only remember two tremors, both tiny. Only things that they did were rattle things off pegs in houses. What's ironic is that I'm now in the Great Northwest, just outside Seattle, and I've not felt earthquake 1 in almost 3 years of being here.

It's got a lot to do with the type of ground that you're sitting on, or so I'm told. The reason that one you mentioned was felt in Philly is because the Eastern half of the Continent has rocky terrain, in comparison to the rich volcanic soil found on this side of the Rockies. Sound travels further through denser materials, with less loss of energy than it does through less dense materials, such as our volcanic sediment.

TheBorg

When reading stuff like this I always relate back to the Mayan calendar and think yeah when 2012 arrives everything will finally be in gear and kick off. Mother nature will destroy most of us then we start again.

Question: Whats the Worst Part of a Big Quake in a Developed Area?

Answer: FIRESTORM caused by all of the broken gas pipelines.

New Madrid Fault (Near St. Louis) is where the 3 largest Oil Pipelines in the USA all Converge.


BTW, there was a 4.6 quake in Montana today.

Dont they also store chemicals, nerve agents ect along thoses fault lines, which were manufatured during the cold war.

Toba was bigger than Yellowstone's last super-eruption, but not as big as Yellowstone can produce:

Toba caldera produced the largest eruption in the last 2 million years. The caldera is 18 x 60 miles (30 by 100 km) and has a total relief of 5,100 feet (1700 m). The caldera probably formed in stages. Large eruptions occurred 840,000, about 700,000, and 75,000 years ago. The eruption 75,000 years ago produced the Young Toba Tuff. The Young Toba Tuff was erupted from ring fractures that surround most or all of the present-day lake.

Comparison of volumes produced by some of the greatest volcanic eruptions. The Young Toba Tuff has an estimated volume of 2,800 cubic kilometers (km) and was erupted about 74,000 years ago. The Huckleberry Ridge Tuff, erupted at Yellowstone 2.2 million years ago, has a volume of 2,500 cubic km. The Lava Creek Tuff, erupted at Yellowstone 600,000 years ago, has a volume of 1,000 cubic km. The May 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens produced 1 cubic km of ash. Not shown is the Fish Canyon Tuff of the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. The Fish Canyon Tuff was erupted 27.8 million years ago and has an estimated volume of 3,000 cubic km.

from:volcano.und.edu...


Edit Addendum: Oh, and Toba allegedly whittled the Human population down from roughly what it is now to less than a 1,000 individuals.


[edit on 8-5-2007 by Karilla]

Yep i was just reading that,

www.billingsgazette.net...