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Oh My – Yellowstone Is Bigger Than We Thought

December 31, 2013 by
A drawing of Yellowstone's supervolcano.

It comes as no surprise that larger amounts of magma are under Yellowstone.

The hot molten rock beneath Yellowstone National Park is 2½ times larger than previously estimated, but this comes as NO surprise.

Because we are small, humans have always seen everything else on the Earth as small. Until technology, that is. Now we are getting our proportions straight.

This planet is far bigger and much more powerful than humans will ever hope to be. Never mess with Mother Nature …

Supervolcano

There is more to our planet than meets the eye … like a supervolcano under Yellowstone that has the potential to erupt with a force about 2,000 times the size of the largest eruption at Mount St. Helens.

Something pretty darn deep has been regulating Old Faithful all these centuries, don’t you think? Now, we know “what.”

By measuring seismic waves from past earthquakes, scientists at the University of Utah have mapped the magma chamber underneath the Yellowstone caldera. The chamber is 88.5 km long (54 miles), 29 km wide (18 miles), and is 5 km to 14.5 km ( 3 miles to 9 miles) deep below the Earth’s surface.

This means there is enough volcanic material below the surface to match the largest of the supervolcano’s three eruptions over the past 2.1 million years.

This is amazing, but oh my, this is also very dangerous.

Yellowstone’s Climate Change

The largest blast ever at Yellowstone was 2,000 times the size of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington State. A similar eruption would spew large amounts of volcanic material into the atmosphere, where it would circle the Earth and result in some serious climate changes. There would be a lot of destruction and a lot of deadly impacts around the globe.

The last Yellowstone eruption happened around 640,000 years ago, according to the geologic record. For years, observers tracking earthquake swarms under Yellowstone have warned that the caldera is overdue to erupt, yet we are incapable of predicting when the next eruption will be.

Advanced Warnings

There are enough instruments monitoring the seismic activity under Yellowstone that scientists will likely know well ahead of time if there is unusual activity happening or magma is rising to the surface.

Many large volcanos, like Yellowstone, are located all over the Earth. Actually, magma chambers fill most of the subsurface under the crust.  We are just now awakening to this fact, but it’s better late than never to understand this, don’t you think?

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Filed Under: Social Awareness, Volcanoes Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Quakes In Yellowstone On Friday the 13th

September 15, 2013 by
A picture of a Grand Canyon in Yellowstone National Park.

A grand canyon in Yellowstone National Park sits beneath a volcanic caldera.

Friday the 13th was an unlucky day for Yellowstone National Park, north of the famous geyser, Old Faithful.

Three earthquakes occurred within minutes of one another, and these were volcanic quakes, signaling the movement of magma beneath the Yellowstone caldera.

The Quakes

The earthquakes were small, but it’s where they were located that is of interest.

A 2.9 (I consider this a 3.0) quake was immediately followed by a 3.5 magnitude quake, and then by another 2.9 (3.0) quake on Friday morning.

You could almost “feel” the rumble from its churning, sour belly of hot magma.

The Caldera

Old Faithful erupting, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Old Faithful erupting in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming.

Given Yellowstone’s volcanic history and the continued presence of magma beneath the Yellowstone caldera, we cannot discount the possibility of an eruption occurring in the future.

The question everyone asks is “when?” No one knows the answer to this, but scientists do know that the last major eruption at Yellowstone was 400,000 years ago – just a blink in geologic time.

The History

Yellowstone’s 2-million-year history of volcanism mixed with the tremendous amount of heat that flows under Yellowstone today, reminds us that magma beneath Yellowstone can reach a point of volcanic activity anytime – especially when we continue to see more recent earthquakes.

Eruptions

The first signs of an eruption at the caldera will more than likely begin as steam blasts or hydrothermal increases in activity. These produce shallow reservoirs of steam or hot water rather than flows of molten rock. These are the sources of Yellowstone’s famous hot springs and geysers, like Old Faithful.

Then, we will begin to see small explosive eruptions that throw ash, pumice, and molten lava into the surrounding environment.  The worst case scenario will be if another catastrophic caldera-forming eruption were to occur like it did 400,000 years ago.

For now, just watch for the earthquakes rumbling beneath this magnificent wildlife area, and when the steam begins to ramp up the geysers, start looking a bit more closely.

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Earth Changes, Earthquakes, Social Awareness, Volcanoes Tagged With: , , , ,

Earthquake Activity Increases In Yellowstone

July 7, 2013 by
A picture of a Grand Canyon in Yellowstone National Park.

A Grand Canyon in Yellowstone National Park.

Earthquake activity is increasing in Yellowstone National Park, but, actually, small quake activity is increasing all over the USA in places that typically do not experience much noticeable ground shaking.

Quake List

Since June 30, 2013, the USA has experienced the following quakes in order of occurrence: (I did not include Alaska, Hawaii, or California because the list would be too long.)

  1. Madill, Oklahoma – 3.0
  2. La Pine, Oregon – 2.5
  3. West Yellowstone, Montana – 2.7
  4. Englewood, Tennessee – 2.5
  5. West Yellowstone, Montana – 2.5
  6. Fairport Harbor, Ohio – 3.2
  7. Enid, Oklahoma – 2.9
  8. Enid, Oklahoma – 3.3
  9. West Yellowstone, Montana – 3.1
  10. West Yellowstone, Montana – 2.7
  11. Meeker, Oklahoma – 2.6
  12. Battle Mountain, Montana – 2.5
  13. West Yellowstone, Montana – 2.9
  14. Fairfield Bay, Arkansas – 2.8
  15. Spanish Springs, Nevada – 2.8

The magnitudes may seem small, but the list is long for the continental US. Most of the movement is along the old Craton boundary, but when Yellowstone increases in activity, pay attention to that ...

 

Filed Under: Earthquakes Tagged With: , , , , , ,