"Supervolcano" Pushing Yellowstone Ever Upwards
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 11. 9.07
Though barely perceptible to all but the most well-trained eye, Yellowstone National Park has been rising at an alarmingly fast rate - up to 3 inches a year since mid-2004 - according to a new study published in the journal Science. A buildup of magma about 6 miles, or 10 km, underground is causing the surface to almost visibly "inflate".
The park is located on a so-called "supervolcano" - a huge, geologically active feature that is "hundreds of times bigger than Mount St. Helens," according to Robert Smith, a professor of geophysics at the University of Utah who co-wrote the study. The caldera, or crater, in which it is situated formed when the "supervolcano"'s cone fell apart during an eruption 640,000 years ago.
Although the "supervolcano" has produced 30 smaller eruptions since then, Smith doesn't believe there is any evidence for an imminent eruption or "hydrothermal explosion". The park's rise - the result of magma and hydrothermal fluids piling up below the volcano - is part of a natural cycle common to caldera. "Since … about 14,000 years ago, the Yellowstone caldera has inflated and deflated about six to eight times without a volcanic eruption," said Kenneth Pierce of the U.S. Geological Survey.
What's unclear is when the "supervolcano" might next "burp," as Smith puts it. Predicting such an event is extremely difficult because the high-tech, precise equipment needed to monitor conditions has only been around for a few years. Assuming it doesn't erupt in the immediate future, Smith and Pierce expect the advent of new GPS and satellite technologies to eventually make the prediction game much easier and, most importantly, much more accurate.
Via ::National Geographic News: Yellowstone Is Rising on Swollen "Supervolcano" (news website)
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The next burp? I like that.
Great article.
Just can't bring myself to worry about it any more than I can about the chances of an asteroid strike or a gamma radiation blast from a neighboring star. But any articles or information that help us understand our surroundings and our place in nature and the universe is a step forward.
If you're in the yellowstone/grand teton area, check out the new vistors center in Moose, Wyoming near the south entrance to Teton NP. They have a great info video showing this event and the formation of the Tetons.
FYI -- Yellowstone sits on a geologic hotspot, similar to the Hawaiian Islands. If you look on Google earth, and look to the south west of yellowstone into Idaho, you will see the track of the hotspot. This area is know as the snake river plain. If you ever visit the area you will see lots of volcanic flows similar in structure to the flows in Hawaii.
It's a shame that there is no practical way to harness this geothermal energy. Or is there?
We could tap that energy, but it's a national park.
Did anyone see the drama movie thing called Supervolcano? It was made by Discovery channel. It is a 'what-if' future about Yellowstone park, if the volcano somehow became active again.
This is scary stuff. Three inches per YEAR?! I'm a big fan of Yellowstone, but I had no idea . . .
I'm also a "volcano-lover" . . . I know, I know -- it's a weird fixation; but I love the grandeur and power of them. But I tend to poke around those that are either dormant or fairly docile. I LOVE Volcano Village on Hawaii's Big Island; there are lots of hotels there (I like the Volcano Inn), so I assume it's pretty safe. :-)