Articles tagged with: yellowstone
As did Toba, so could Yellowstone
A study has provided “incontrovertible evidence” that the eruption of super-volcano Toba 73,000 years ago destroyed forests throughout central India, at a distance of 3,000 miles from the the island of Sumatra where Toba is located.
The volcano ejected an estimated 800 cubic kilometers of ash to Earth’s atmosphere (Mt St Helens in 1980 was 1.3 cubic kilometres), creating an “Instant Ice Age” that, as evidenced by Greenland ice cores, lasted approximately 1,800 years.
During this time “temperatures dropped by as much as 16 degrees centigrade (28 degrees Fahrenheit)”. The effect on existing populations would have been devastating, and is a possible cause for the population “bottleneck” we find from genetic evidence.
This is the type of disaster that could be just around the corner, if Yellowstone is really showing signs of unrest. Not only would a large portion of the USA be wiped out, but we’d also have a massive drop in …
Mount St Helens – Supervolcano?
Many 2012ers and EOTWers are aware of the potential of Yellowstone, the supervolcano that could in theory erupt again at any time, repeating the destruction it caused 640,000 years ago.
Although it is not yet proven, there is the possibility that Mt St Helens, which we all know is presently active, could be as dangerous as Yellowstone.
New Scientist reports:
The measurements revealed a column of conductive material that extends downward from the volcano. About 15 kilometres below the surface, the relatively narrow column appears to connect to a much bigger zone of conductive material.
This larger zone was first identified in the 1980s by another magnetotelluric survey, and was found to extend all the way to beneath Mount Rainier 70 kilometres to the north-east, and Mount Adams 50 kilometres to the east. It was thought to be a zone of wet sediment, water being a good electrical conductor.
However, since the new measurements show …
