Yellowstone possible terror target?

Originally posted by Bogus
Could terrorists use the super volcano as a possible WMD.
Kinda of a stupid question.

[Edited on 18-2-2004 by Bogus]

Well. The amount of effort that a group would have to invest in such a venture would be enormous. And the bomb to cause the volcano to blow (if that's even really possible to affect an eruption from the outside) would have to be equally enormous. They may just as well blow the bomb up in a populated area instead of putting in all that effort for a plan that would more than likely fail.

Terrorists don't rely on high tech means of doing things. Quick and dirty. Whatever will get the job done with the most effectiveness and the least effort and cost...

[Edited on 28-2-2004 by Thorfinn Skullsplitter]

Originally posted by Thorfinn Skullsplitter

Originally posted by Bogus
Could terrorists use the super volcano as a possible WMD.
Kinda of a stupid question.

[Edited on 18-2-2004 by Bogus]

Well. The amount of effort that a group would have to invest in such a venture would be enormous. And the bomb to cause the volcano to blow (if that's even really possible to affect an eruption from the outside) would have to be equally enormous. They may just as well blow the bomb up in a populated area instead of putting in all that effort for a plan that would more than likely fail.

Terrorists don't rely on high tech means of doing things. Quick and dirty. Whatever will get the job done with the most effectiveness and the least effort and cost...

[Edited on 28-2-2004 by Thorfinn Skullsplitter]

Do you think 9-11 Took alot of effort? Learning to Fly a jet High-Tech.?


I dont think it would cost that much, comared to setting a dirty bomb in NY. It would be hard to know where to set it off to get max damage. It would be hard to get that deep in the US with a bomb of that kind(at least I hope).


There are like 4 or 5 more around the world. It would be easier to get to 2 or 3 of them

What would be the effect of an eruption?
Immediately before the eruption, there would be large earthquakes in the Yellowstone region. The ground would swell further with most of Yellowstone being uplifted. One earthquake would finally break the layer of rock that holds the magma in - and all the pressure the Earth can build up in 640,000 years would be unleashed in a cataclysmic event.
Magma would be flung 50 kilometres into the atmosphere. Within a thousand kilometres virtually all life would be killed by falling ash, lava flows and the sheer explosive force of the eruption. Volcanic ash would coat places as far away as Iowa and the Gulf of Mexico. One thousand cubic kilometres of lava would pour out of the volcano, enough to coat the whole of the USA with a layer 5 inches thick. The explosion would have a force 2,500 times that of Mount St. Helens. It would be the loudest noise heard by man for 75,000 years, the time of the last super volcano eruption. Within minutes of the eruption tens of thousands would be dead.

The long-term effects would be even more devastating. The thousands of cubic kilometres of ash that would shoot into the atmosphere could block out light from the sun, making global temperatures plummet. This is called a nuclear winter. As during the Sumatra eruption a large percentage of the world's plant life would be killed by the ash and drop in temperature. Also, virtually the entire of the grain harvest of the Great Plains would disappear in hours, as it would be coated in ash. Similar effects around the world would cause massive food shortages. If the temperatures plummet by the 21 degrees they did after the Sumatra eruption the Yellowstone super volcano eruption could truly be an extinction level event.

You don't know that, That's all speculation. If it's even possible to affect an eruption. Like I said. Why would a group go to all the trouble when it could just set that same bomb off in a building?

And yeah. 9/11 was pretty crude compared to the damage that was done. They merely took control of a jet. Which is not an extremely daunting task to learn to fly. And they flew them into a building. Not very high-tech, James Bond stuff going on there...

They merely took control of a jet. Which is not an extremely daunting task to learn to fly. And they flew them into a building. Not very high-tech, James Bond stuff going on there...

Can you do it?