Quote of the Day
Previous research using seismology found that a large reservoir of magma sat beneath the caldera. However, the recent study, using a method known as magnetotellurics that tracks the electric conductivity of magma, found something different.
“When we used magnetotellurics, we were able to see, actually, there’s not a lot there,” said Ninfa Bennington, lead author on the study and a research geophysicist at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. “There are these segregated regions where magma is stored across Yellowstone, instead of having one sort of large reservoir.”
Bennington added that her team learned that the percentage of magma stored in the reservoirs was actually quite low. This means that none of the reservoirs are capable of producing an eruption anytime soon. Their research suggests the northeast region of Yellowstone wouldn’t expect to erupt again for hundreds of thousands of years.
Angeli Gabriel
January 2, 2025
Scientists reveal when a Yellowstone volcano super eruption could happen | Fox Weather
Although I knew it was unlikely, being within the severely impacted zone of a Yellowstone eruption has been an item of concern for me. I have seen the devastation of the Mount St. Helen’s eruption and that was barely a hiccup compared to a Yellowstone supereruption*. Yet the speed of the pyroclastic flow reached speeds of 670 MPH and may have even briefly been supersonic. Imagine the effect of a huge mass of rock, sand, and dirt on the countryside when moving across it at supersonic speeds. The death of all life blast radius of a Yellowstone supereruption would be hundreds of miles. My underground bunker in Idaho would not be a suitable refuge in the face of a such a natural disaster. It is only a little over 300 miles from the probable center of the Yellowstone eruption.
Hence, the projection of the next eruption being hundreds of thousands of years from now allows me some comfort. I can probably expect dealing with such an eruption is someone else’s problem. i can concentrate on the more immediate threats of economic collapse, tyrannical governments, and other man-made disasters.
* Mount Saint Helen’s ash was about 1.3 km3. A Yellowstone supereruption is expected to be over 1,000 km3. See also the comparison of the ash fall boundaries of Mount Saint Helen’s to the Yellowstone supereruptions of the past.
I have to say Joe I have never worried about super volcanoes, errant asteroids or earthquakes of biblical proportions.
Now saying that a 1000K ton meteor will probably land on the New Madrid Fault and set off your super volcano.
Your welcome.
If that happens, I’ll be wandering the shattered lands, a hellscape of sorcery and super-science, with some guy that introduces himself as “something something The Barbarian” (you can hear the Capital Letters) and swings around a “fabulous” Sun Sword. Inevitability, he’ll call me the weird one because I’m just packing “the exceptionally normal shotgun”.
Ya, they found ash from Crater Lake, OR. (Mt. Mazama eruption). In Canada.
Mt. St. Helens was 3/4 cubic mile in one blast. Mazama was 7 cubic miles in one shot. And Yellowstone would be even bigger? Damn.
Well, thank God, at almost 70, the only thing I have to worry about is gout flares.
Since this came from Fox, it’s obviously Russki misinformation. When the super volcano blows it will be Trumps fault, but really only a concern if it affects BIPOC communities or media outlets in New York. Dead white people? Meh.
But seriously, that is very useful info. I’ve been working from time to time with folks using electrical resistivity for high resolution mapping of groundwater contamination. It’s pretty sophisticated science.
An evolving imperfect science. We can measure, test and guess but ultimately we lack the instrumentation to truly see what’s happening below ground. Even a few meters of earth can fool our instrumentation. So while this report certainly isn’t bad news it cannot be taken as any sort of guarantee that the caldera won’t erupt…as early as next week. Although Vegas odds would likely say that’s not going to happen. Research must continue.
We live just about 50 miles from the probable hypocenter of a Yellowstone Caldera explosion. Ground shock waves (like earthquakes) move at just under 5 miles/second so we’d be feeling it shake the house down around our ears about 10 seconds after the eruption/explosion.
Air shock waves are much slower. Right around the explosion they’d be moving supersonically but after a few miles they’d drop to sonic velocity, somewhere around 1,000 ft/sec or a mile every 5 seconds (you know, how you count flash-to-boom for thunderstorms). So we’d have about 240 seconds (4 minutes) if we survived the earthquake and ground shock to prepare for the air shock wave. Since there’s absolutely nothing we could do in that situation, I’d probably want to step outside, say goodbye to my wife, and watch it flash over the mountains at us.
This area of NW Wyoming would probably end up covered in hundreds of feet of red-hot material and ash like it did last time, and the rest of the country (depending on the wind direction) would be shut down due to the erosive effects of the ash on engines.
I never spend a millisecond worrying about, since it’s a much lower probability than getting hit by a meteor. We’ll just enjoy the scenery and everything else around here.
For those of us in the PNW, the potential for a “Big Rip” quake in the Cascadia subduction zone is a much higher risk. Coastal areas would be severely impacted by tsunamis or seiches, and inland areas would have the crap shaken out of their infrastructure. No red hot ash though, so there is that…..
This risk is a significant reason for wanting a refuge in Idaho. There are also the volcanos, crime, high taxes, high prices, and oppressive gun laws. With the lower concern about Yellowstone, Idaho is looking near ideal for me.
This post interests me, partly because I’ve been an advocate of science all my life, and partly because it illustrates a point I’ll make below.
But don’t worry; they have plenty of other things to terrify innocent little kids with these days besides a giant volcano.
For myself, a volcano would be just as good a way to die as any, and better than some. So, what’s the big deal?
As for the actual science (or the “science” so-called, for we should be ever-vigilant in finding and then pointing out the differences), I wrote this a few months ago;
“Has anyone else notice that, while we’re expected to believe that modern science has figured out much of the basics of life, the universe and everything, the scientists themselves are rather frequently surprised by new findings? It would seem then, that the repeated use of phrases like, “Trust the Science” and, “The Science is Settled” is unwarranted, to put it mildly. “Hurry Up and Trust It Now, Before It’s Overturned By Next Week’s Findings” would seem to be a more appropriate slogan for government and media pukes to be throwing around with regard to science, then, no?”