Yellowstone supervolcano could blow faster than thought, destroy all of mankind

Arizona State University researchers have analyzed minerals around the supervolcano at Yellowstone National Park and have come to a startling conclusion. It could blow much faster than previously expected, potentially wiping out life as we know it.

According to National Geographic, the researchers, Hannah Shamloo and Christy Till, analyzed minerals in fossilized ash from the most recent eruption. What they discovered surprised them – the changes in temperature and composition only took a few decades, much faster than the centuries previously thought.

“We expected that there might be processes happening over thousands of years preceding the eruption,” said Till said in an interview with the New York Times.

The supervolcano last erupted about 630,000 years ago, according to National Geographic. Prior to that, it was 1.3 million years ago, per a report from ZME Science.

If another eruption were to take place, the researchers found that the supervolcano would spare almost nothing in its wrath. It would shoot 2,500 times more material than Mount St. Helen did in 1980 and could cover most of the continguous U.S. in ash, possibly putting the planet into a volcanic winter.

The new discovery, which was presented in August after a previous version of the study, comes after another study in 2011 which found the magma reservoir in Yellowstone has moved considerably, gaining about 10 inches in seven years.

"It's an extraordinary uplift, because it covers such a large area and the rates are so high," the University of Utah's Bob Smith, an expert in Yellowstone volcanism, told National Geographic six years ago.

Despite the concerns about an eruption happening relatively soon, Shamloo told The Times that more research needed to be done before a definite conclusion could be drawn.

In June, the supervolcano was hit with more than 400 earthquakes in one week, though researchers cautioned it was nothing nothing to be alarmed about.

For its part, NASA is working on a way to prevent the supervolcano from destroying mankind, including trying to cool the magma before it spills over.

Foxnews

It’s funny that these “scientists” think everything we do to alter the climate with fossil fuels is bad, but they want to drill into the magma to cool it. Shouldn’t we just let the wisdom of nature prevail and kick our sorry asses off the planet?

The margin of error in predicting when it might blow is bigger than the entire span of human's existenace as a species......plus or minus a couple hundred thousand years is hard to get excited about.

It could blow up tomorrow or it could be 100,000 years. And I don't think we can do a damn thing about it.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:

Either that or Shamloo should study the possibility of using a giant ShamWoW.

Well, I ain’t gonna worry about it. If she blows, she blows, and there is absolutely nothing neither you nor I can do about it. But I’m sure that the last tree-hugger, as zhe is hugging the last tree, will no doubt blame the evil capitalists for spoiling it for everyone else.

Great news! I'm gonna drink more bourbon and start smoking cigarettes again.

10% chance is higher than I thought. Gosh, the world sure is a scary place - but fascinating at the same time! If all of humanity were wiped out, I wonder if the dinosaurs would come back?

quote:

NASA is working on a way to prevent the supervolcano from destroying mankind, including trying to cool the magma before it spills over.

bahaahahahaha!!!

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
It could blow up tomorrow or it could be 100,000 years. And I don't think we can do a damn thing about it.

+1

They can try whatever suits them.

It-will-make-no-difference.

Heck! Pass a law forbidding it! That will do as much good!

Oh, we could do something to cool the magma, but it would be an engineering feat like the world has never done before. It would forever change the Yellowstone National Park. And all that heat would have to go somewhere, like into the atmosphere.

quote:

Originally posted by Nuclear:
Oh, we could do something to cool the magma, but it would be an engineering feat like the world has never done before. It would forever change the Yellowstone National Park. And all that heat would have to go somewhere, like into the atmosphere.

Please elaborate because..

Yellowstone NP or humanity? Yeah I'll go with Humanity though I am sure some here would feel differently

Nature is going to do what naturally does and there is not a darn thing we puny humans can do about it.

Just my $0.02,

Mike

quote:

Originally posted by Nuclear: And all that heat would have to go somewhere, like into the atmosphere.

There's some man made climate change for ya'

I'd say let it blow. In the big picture of Earth's history and certainly the history of the Universe, our continued existence as a species is utterly meaningless.

quote:

Originally posted by Nuclear:
Oh, we could do something to cool the magma, but it would be an engineering feat like the world has never done before. It would forever change the Yellowstone National Park. And all that heat would have to go somewhere, like into the atmosphere.

If holdem has any dry ice left over after transporting his ice cream, he should donate it to NASA.

It's the end of the world as we know it...

Damn Millerites.

Of all the possible calamities there are, this is the one I think about (worry is too strong) most. First, it’s in the neighborhood—sort of, and not that that would matter much—but unlike an asteroid it would make the whole dying process much more unpleasant. Fleeing east? How far could I get on a tank of gas and a couple of extra cans? Would it be better to wait at home until the roof caved in, or to die a little later stranded and out of water on the road someplace? Yes, it could happen 10,000 years from now, and we will probably have figured out a way to exterminate the species before then, but it could happen very soon, and even within the relatively few years I have left (sorry about you youngsters ).

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
Of all the possible calamities there are, this is the one I think about (worry is too strong) most. First, it’s in the neighborhood—sort of, and not that that would matter much—but unlike an asteroid it would make the whole dying process much more unpleasant. Fleeing east? How far could I get on a tank of gas and a couple of extra cans? Would it be better to wait at home until the roof caved in, or to die a little later stranded and out of water on the road someplace? Yes, it could happen 10,000 years from now, and we will probably have figured out a way to exterminate the species before then, but it could happen very soon, and even within the relatively few years I have left (sorry about you youngsters ).

You see, there are advantages to living in California! I'll die last!