Yellowstone National Park is one of the most dangerous geological features on Earth. In trying to uncover the processes behind Yellowstone's main attractions like "Old Faithful," geologists came to the frightening realization that Yellowstone was in fact a vast hidden super-volcano--one that is overdue for a massive eruption. Yellowstone has been on a regular eruption cycle of 600,000 years but the last eruption was over 640,000 years ago, so the next is overdue. An eruption at Yellowstone could be 2,500 times the size of the 1980 Mount St. Helens event. In the past 16.5 million years, the volcano has mysteriously moved hundreds of miles though Nevada across southern Idaho to reach its present location in Yellowstone. But even today it is still active. A swarm of 500 earthquakes hit the park early in 2009 and geologists found that the entire park is being pushed up into the air by hidden forces under the ground. Is this sleeping giant beginning to stir?
4 comments:
We visited Yellowstone last year and were amazed at the beauty of the park. If the supervocano decides to erupt, the entire USA will be effected. If this happens in three years or more, it won't make too much difference as the USA as we know it, will be gone anyway. Thanks, Obama and your progressive, liberal goons.
How does an underground volcano move hundreds of miles... underground? That's scary.
Wait, maybe there's a career here!
DENVER — In the last two weeks, more than 100 mostly tiny earthquakes a day, on average, have rattled a remote area of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, putting scientists who monitor the park’s strange and volatile geology on alert.
Researchers say that for now, the earthquake cluster, or swarm — the second-largest ever recorded in the park — is more a cause for curiosity than alarm. The quake zone, about 10 miles northwest of the Old Faithful geyser, has shown little indication, they said, of building toward a larger event, like a volcanic eruption of the type that last ravaged the Yellowstone region tens of thousands of years ago.
The area is far from any road or community, and the park is relatively empty in winter. Swarms of small quakes, including a significant swarm last year, are relatively common.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/01/science/01yellowstone.html
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