As you have surely heard, the Yellowstone Caldera ... the place where Old Faithful and the Geyser Basin reside ... has been undergoing increased "activity" including some earthquakes and a rising up of the land. Is this a big problem? Should the evacuate? Should those of us living only a few states away start wearing earplugs?
The paper reporting this, in the current issue of Science, concludes:
The caldera-wide accelerated uplift reported here is interpreted as magmatic recharge of the Yellowstone magma body. Although the geodetic observations and models do not imply an impending volcanic eruption or hydrothermal explosion, they are important evidence of ongoing processes of a large caldera that was produced by a super volcano eruption.
A little vague. I'm pretty sure, from my reading of this paper, that there is not a major imminent danger. But it is interesting to contemplate the magnitude of these things.
This volcano, the volcano we affectionately know as "Yellowstone National Park" (the caldera takes up something like a third of the park area, and is entirely enclosed within it) last erupted in a big way about 600,000 years ago. That was the third in a series of "giant eruptions." Subsequently, there were several smaller volcanic eruptions, the most recent being about 70,000 years ago.
A caldera is a hole left behind when a very large and explosive volcano blows everything out more or less at once. As calderas go, Yellowstone is on the list of the largest known. Here is a rough outline of the Yellowstone Caldera very approximately superimposed over New York City:
Here is a little historical perspective, a list of exenmlar volcanic eruptions of this type (leaving a big caldera, ejecting lots of stuff).
- Tambora, Indonesia
- 192 years ago, a mere 30 or 40 square km in area, ejected about 100 cubic km of stuff.
- (About ten other similar sized eruptions have happened during the last 10,000 years, Tambora possibly being the largest.)
- Toba, Sumatra
- 71,000 years ago, about 3,500 square km in area, ejected about 2800 cubic km.
- Yellowstone
- 600,000 years ago about 4,000 square km in area, about 1,000 cubic km ejected.
- La Garita, Colorado
- 28,000,000 years ago, about 2,600 square km in area, about 5,000 cubic km ejected (possibly the largest volume of any known volcano)
So, as you can see, the Yellowstone Volcano was a doozie. Comparatively speaking.
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Source:
Chang, W., Smith, RB., Wicks, C. et al.. (2007). Accelerated uplift and magmatic intrusion of the yellowstone caldera, 2004 to 2006.. Science 318, 952-956.
Comments
Maybe it will solve a global warming woes for a bit.
Posted by: Jeb, FCD | November 10, 2007 10:55 PM
I can see the west rim of the Yellowstone Caldera from the deck of my cabin, which is in the Island Park Caldera. I do not think either caldera will explode all at once. I think the magma will seep out slowly, and there will be a few minor eruptions. At least if the people who live here are co-evolving with the geology. That is how they approach their problems now, and have in the Euro-settler past. The natives come here for intense experiences - vision quests and to kill moose, preferring to live at the edge of where the molten lava finally quit flowing. In the days before rifles, they came to find obsidian for arrowheads in addition to vision seeking. Also the Crows came through on their way to wife- and horse-stealing campaigns against the Shoshone and other tribes, and vice versa. Now they do not steal to mix up the gene pool, they attend powwows and with luck, fall in love.
The film, Supervolcano- fun to watch, but not an award winner. Folks here show it to unwanted guests. But if you love big explosions, and who doesn't, it's a fun watch. The link does have some good info.
http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/supervolcano/supervolcano.html
Posted by: CalderaGal | November 11, 2007 8:29 AM
"If the Yellowstone volcano goes off, we will all share the experience."
So said David Alt, I believe, in his "Roadside Geology of Montana." Alas, I do not have copy handy to confirm this recollection. If he didn't say it, he should have.
Posted by: Martin Richard | November 11, 2007 9:23 AM
Stupid question but would it possible to remove the lid from this pressure cooker? Or would that be the same as trying to puncture a water balloon?
Posted by: Who Cares | November 11, 2007 11:09 AM
If the Yellowstone volcano goes off, we will all share the experience.
So said David Alt, I believe, in his "Roadside Geology of Montana." Alas, I do not have copy handy to confirm this recollection. If he didn't say it, he should have.
Posted by: laptop battery | August 28, 2008 6:09 AM
I've never visited Yellowstone. Perhaps I should make the effort while it's still there. :-)
Posted by: SimonG | January 2, 2009 2:40 PM
Although if I'm patient, perhaps it will visit me.
Posted by: SimonG | January 2, 2009 2:42 PM
Yes, I was just thinking that in retrospect placing the Jewel of the national park system on a caldera was a little dumb.
Posted by: Greg Laden | January 2, 2009 3:38 PM
Who cares: Not really. We are ants walking around on a giant covered pot of boiling pasta.
Posted by: Greg Laden | January 2, 2009 3:51 PM
Hello, I live in Dillon, MT and I wanted to know if Yellowstone does blow would it be good to head south down by the ocean to stay warm for the volcanic winter. would it be warmer their. i think it would. but i want to know ahead of time, i am already starting to get ready, can food, lots of water, warm clothes, gas masks, and bunches of other things. i am 20 and still young and dont want to die i am going to live throw this and so are all my loved ones. i want to know and dont suger coat it, is yellowstone dangerous, tell me the true.
Posted by: Lelia Snodgrass | January 2, 2009 4:06 PM
Lelia: a seacoast may not be the safest place to be, following a major seismic event. Read about Tsunami.
Is Yellowstone dangerous? This scientist says no:
Dr. Jacob Lowenstern of the U.S. Geological Survey said Monday that the earthquake activity in Yellowstone most likely will continue for weeks, "and then will end without any other related activity."
Posted by: Pyre | January 2, 2009 4:51 PM
Lelia, if you live in Dillion, Montana, you probably won't survive, so don't worry about it. The last big event only about 1800 people in the whole world survived.
But you have the right idea about preparing--it is better to have a stockpile of food and not worry about your grammar and spelling. Good luck to you.
Posted by: NIght Watch | January 4, 2009 1:16 AM
Hmm Lets see, Well, I have seen Mt St hellens erupt when I was a child.
and Mt St hellens was pretty much ding the same thing that this is doing in its earlier stages. Iam very curiouse as to why the sceintists are using double talk. Saying the quakes are Normal then turning around and saying thattey are Unusual..This is a verry sensitive area we don't know what changes can lead to a domino effect if you would care to call it tt befor the eruption takes place .. they are saying thatthere are no changes in Deformation but are not releasing data on that.
andin one of the actual reports they concluded a paragrah saying that there has been no volcanic gass release ---as of yet...wen they say that It appears that they are stll gathering data.. that park is Huge ..wat I thnk they need to do is park a satlight over tatting for the next month or so and take some shots using heat image sensors as well... see if there are any changes in gorund temp prature and see if any new hot spots are cming to be..
Posted by: Lee | January 16, 2009 4:56 PM
hmmm... i don't really kno.
but if it does happen well let it be.
we can't change it, just be prepared. and enjoy yellowstone if it will blow so at least u'll have the chance. awesomest place ever! ;)
Posted by: judy yay! | February 5, 2009 1:53 AM