WHat would happen if a terrorist nuked Yellowstone?

Any of you pro's out here may want to answer this. Could a nuclear weapon set off in yellowstone cause it to blow?

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Definitely not a pro here but . . .

You mean using a nuke to initiate the volcano?

As powerful as nukes are just as a guess I doubt they would have much effect.
I think it is far more dependent on what is happening with the underlying magma.
A nuke could precipitate a volcanic event, but it would have probably happened shortly anyway.

The human species is really microscopic in its powers compared to the HUGENESS of the Universe.

The biggest power we probably have is cause ourselves to go extinct.
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things in Yellowstone are dangerous and i dont believe it would take as much as a nuke. Why, do you know someone who's planning to nuke it?
What do you base your question on?

Originally posted by dgtempe
Why, do you know someone who's planning to nuke it?
What do you base your question on?

That was going to be my question when I first read this but I said let it be.

Now I'm curious as well. What do you base this question on and why Yellowstone? I'll have to give Yogi the heads up. Oh thats Jellystone! Nevermind.

[edit on 15-10-2004 by evecasino]

Geez guys I'm not a Terrorist. It was just a question. And no I do not know of any plans for anyone to do this. I was just asking Hypothetically if it would set off the Super Volcano. If it would we need to guard the *** out of that place.

I guess no experts are going to reply so I'll move this to the weapons forum.

I'm no expert but I'm guessing it would have little to no effect.

This is similar to the question of nuking a hurricane out of existence. All you would have would be the same hurricane - yet with radioactive rain and winds.


A volcano, especially one as powerful as Yellowstone's - has millions times more energy than a powerful nuclear bomb. The nuclear bomb would have virtually zero perceptive effect on the volcano.

IXRAZORXI321 It really depends on where you put the nuke. Location Location, Location if you just set off a nuke above ground it not going to do anything to a volcano.

Volcanos are all about pressure when it builds to a high enough level you only need the smallest crack to start to release all that energy. Perhaps if you could drill down deep enough with a volcano with just the right conditions it would work. If you had enough energy to dig a vent to the magma chamber thats all you would need the volcano would do the rest of the work for you.

I tried to move this to the weaponry forum but it keeps getting deleted.

I think there was a recent thread on this topic but I can't find it. I know... I suck.... boolean search and all. One of the points I remember from the thread and link was that if a nuke was dropped in to the lake thats all it would take to cause erruption. This is due to the pressure from the weight of the water which could cause the force of the explosion downward through the surface of the volcano. The caldera is huge. Like 50-80 k? I think it would be devastating for the entire region and beyond.

I don't think a nuke would set off the super volcano at all. It might cause a vent to let off some of the building pressure. I don't think the matter is worth loosing sleep over though.

[edit on 16-10-2004 by Max Rushmore]

Originally posted by Max Rushmore
I don't think a nuke would set off the super volcano at all. It might cause a vent to let off some of the building pressure. I don't think the matter is worth loosing sleep over though.

Yeah, if there isn't much pressure to release nuke can't cause big eruption.

From what I understand the bulge at yellowstone, amongst other signs, points to a large hydrothermal explosion versus an erruption. Not sure if a nuke would trigger that? Here is some info for those not up to date with Yellowstone.


"YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. - The mystery of the deep at picturesque Yellowstone Lake is a bulge that rises 100 feet from the lake floor, stretches the length of seven football fields, and has the potential to explode at any time. Of all the life-threatening events that could happen at Yellowstone - from volcanic eruptions to massive earthquakes - this type of hydrothermal explosion is likely the most immediate, serious hazard in the park ... Denver-based geologists have discovered a towering mound that has swollen to the size of seven football fields at the bottom of Yellowstone Lake."

Thus, we have a rock deformation that absolutely dwarfs the maximum deformation at Mt. St. Helens (450 feet). The dimensions of this rock deformation at the bottom of Yellowstone Lake are 100 feet high by 2,100 feet wide! But, this is not the only rock deformation bulging upward and outward in the Yellowstone Park Super-Volcano! Going back to our Denver Post article, we learn:

"Just south of Norris basin is a bulge in the earth about 28 miles across and 7 miles deep that has pushed the ground up more than 5 inches since 1996, according to research by Chuck Wicks, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, California ... This summer already has shown signs that the caldera remains wide awake. Norris Geyser Basin, the hottest thermal area in Yellowstone, sprouted new mud pots. Ground temperature on the trail soared to 200 degrees Fahrenheit, too hot to touch. Porkchop Geyser, dormant since 1989, erupted on July 16. Park officials responded by barring access to half of the 2 miles of Norris Geyser trails." [Ibid.] These two "mud pots" are approximately 70 feet high and 2,300 feet long!

Thus, these two huge rock deformations are clear indications that a potentially massive movement of magma that will cause a Super-Volcano explosion is already underway! Remember the insight from this professor: "Ground surface deformation ... is a reliable indicator of an impending eruption."

"... Likewise, the eruption of Mt. St. Helens in 1980 was a volcanic sneeze compared to what scientists say America will experience one day. And a mysterious four-inch-high bulge in the ground of central Oregon is, so far, little more than a conversation piece. Sooner or later, geologists warn, a 'super volcano' will strike. The eruption of pent-up energy will cover half the United States in ash, in some places up to 3 feet (1 meter) deep. Earth will be plunged into a perpetual winter that would last years. Some plant and animal species will disappear forever. Even humans could be pushed to the edge of extinction."

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.

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[edit on 043131p://17u05 by Lucid Lunacy]

well if they did nuke it 2 obvious things would happen I we would have to fight forrest fires that already going there and the other every on down wind would die and those trees being gone will cause flooding and enviromental changes so detramental to the US ecosystem as a whole

I wonder if it would be possiblle to diffuse the "SUPER VOLCANO" with some drilling and explosives. The problem is pressure right? We should be able to release it slowly somehow.

Originally posted by IXRAZORXI321
I wonder if it would be possiblle to diffuse the "SUPER VOLCANO" with some drilling and explosives. The problem is pressure right? We should be able to release it slowly somehow.

Some scientists think this is the smart thing to do. Nothing like this has ever been attempted with a volcano that I know of.

I have seen something like this done in a lake in Africa that had posion gas build up under the lake and release all at once every once in a while killing many people in the surrounding area. They tapped the gas under the lake so it is released slowly over time so this will never happen again. It seems to work just fine.

Granted it was not molten rock but I would think its the same basic concept

That's crazy. I heard about the super volcano but I never knew how much damage it will do when it explodes. A hydro-thermal explosion?

...That's not good, not good at all. I hope the scientists working on the problem get a solution soon. I would hate to see the effects of that explosion..


-wD

Originally posted by WeBDeviL
That's crazy. I heard about the super volcano but I never knew how much damage it will do when it explodes. A hydro-thermal explosion?

...That's not good, not good at all. I hope the scientists working on the problem get a solution soon. I would hate to see the effects of that explosion..


-wD

Well the last time it went off it covered something like everything in a 1000 mile radius in 6ft of ash. If it goes off the whole world will feel its effect not just N America.

If you try and release the pressure under Yellowstaone gradually, isn't there a chance you could set the whole thing off? Is it possible that an initially small man made pressure release could snowball and cause it to blow?

Originally posted by Chris McGee
If you try and release the pressure under Yellowstaone gradually, isn't there a chance you could set the whole thing off? Is it possible that an initially small man made pressure release could snowball and cause it to blow?

I think there could be a chance of that, perhaps thats why nobody is really making any effort to do something yet.

But its not like we can just ignore it and hope it can go away though. Perhaps there is a way to just release the thermal energy without releasing the magma.