The Super Volcano

The Australian News is carrying a story about the increased risk of a super-volcano in the Sumatra area. The most deadly of all risks here other than an asteroid hit.

I am at the library so I can't give a link. But this is the first time I have heard of a super volcano. I guess it would be like Krakatoa.

The risk now is much greater (they said it could go off anytime) because of the major earthquakes in Indnonesia that have increased the stress on the teutonic plates there.

I can't help but wonder if the earth herself will rid the planet of the human species. Huge storms and volcanoes and earthquakes certainly seem to be increasing - but I'm no expert on this stuff.

We had terrible tornado season last year. And now we have had no rain so far this spring. The Missouri River is really, really low. The whole upper Missouri basin is in drought.

Yellowstone is also a super volcano and it could go off anytime.

Well, here I have a whole new set of things to keep me awake at night.

Sorry to hear about the drought. KC is a lovely area when
it's green.

and pray for me as I live withing the kill zone for the first few minutes after that thing blows.

The Yellowstone Super-volcano info would give an idea what to expect if one forms in the Sumatra area. I believe Yellowstone eruptions (which we are overdue for) are listed as expelling something like 8000 + times the amount of rock, ash, molten rock as we saw when Mt. St. Helens blew in May of 1980.

There were once sequoia forests covering what is now the badlands of eastern Montana. Where I live, one can find the fossil remains of huge trees, all knocked down in the same direction. Materials from Yellowstone eruptions are layered in Nebraska. There is an old National Geographic article and a book about Yellowstone Super-volcano you may find at your library.

One in Sumatra would be interesting. Likelihood of death and destruction, but if the ash/debris plume was mainly over the ocean, the destruction might not be as bad. Weather: darker, cooler for a few years. On the up side, after a time, new islands for more Club Med type resorts (or maybe that is a downside).

> One in Sumatra would be interesting. Likelihood of death and
> destruction, but if the ash/debris plume was mainly over the ocean,
> the destruction might not be as bad

... except for a seriously big tsunami ...

The really big ones are mass-extinction events.

it's "tectonic" plates, not "tuetonic" plates. Teutonic plates are only found under Germany.

We're in the thick of a major supervolcano discussion right here.

--p!

I had to stop watching shows about volcanoes after that one. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

I prefer to worry about things we can actually do something about. Stressing about the next asteroid hit or the next supervolcano is a waste of time since our stress and worry does nothing to change anything.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

...if we extensively exploited these areas for geothermal power generation.

Would they eventually lose pressure and stabilize?

Except maybe move farther away.


....maybe if we had a really big cork.......