Pacific Spirit Marine Institute
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Rumblings that Yellowstone getting ready to blow have been swirling around for several years just outside of the mainstream media in the U.S. Yesterday a report was released on the status of the molten rock under Yellowstone National Park.
The U.S. hasn’t experienced much good news in recent months and this report doesn’t appear to have much good news regarding when volcanic or hydrothermal eruptions could occur. In another Orwellian attempt to quell the lunatic fringe the U.S. gets quasi official word that Yellowstone poses no imminent threat to the environment.
“A volcano that could – in an instant – change our world forever” says the official web feature of Yellowstone National Park, Yellowstone InDepth.
You see, in 2003 park rangers noted a rapid rise in ground temperature in an area previously dormant. Some geysers suddenly came to life and others simply boiled themselves dry. Denise Herman recounts how he was talking with visitors one morning in July, in the area of Corporal Geyser and noticed trees emitting a maple syrup smell. Meaning? The heat under them was cooking the sap of the trees themselves. He found the temperature of the earth just a few centimeters below his feet was 200 degrees Fahrenheit, the boiling point of water at that altitude.
His finding caused the park to temporarily close that trail so visitors wouldn’t be burned. This discovery launched an investigation into exactly how faithful Old Faithful might continue to be and what may be the result of the rapid changes might mean.
The fact that Yellowstone and all of it’s wonders lie atop what may be the world’s largest volcano is cause enough for study, but with the rapid changes taking place these days closer monitoring of the situation at Yellowstone is becoming more important than ever.
The most recent report in the journal Science is doing little to quell the feeling Yellowstone is a pressure cooker waiting to blow!
“There is no evidence of an imminent volcanic eruption or hydrothermal explosion. That’s the bottom line”, Reuters reported Robert Smith, University of Utah seismologist as saying in a statement.
Comforting words coming from Smith until he further says, “But we have no idea how long this process goes on before there either is an eruption of the inflow of molten rock stops and the caldera deflates again.”
Isn’t the bottom line actually something quite different than “There is no evidence of an imminent volcanic eruption or hydrothermal explosion”?
Satellite readings show in a 2 1/2 year period the caldera in Yellowstone has risen 7 inches, the biggest rise ever measured. This rise measured from mid-2004 through 2006. As we approach 2008, one wonders what the rise, if any, has been in the subsequent 2 years. I’ve been unable to find this information.
Over 3 million people come to Yellowstone National Park annually. 3 million tourists equals a lot of money.
Jake Lownstern, Yellowstone volcano Observatory Scientist in Charge says, “…All of this geological activity that in other places might mean an eruption was coming but in Yellowstone it just means that’s the way the place works.”
I’m left with a hollow feeling wondering: What makes science different at Yellowstone than any other place?
One thing everyone does agree on is, it’s not a matter of ‘if’ this, possibly the largest volcano on earth will erupt changing the world as we know it in an instant, but, ‘when’.
Yellowstone is alive. It is a geologic park that is active, and changing on a daily basis. Since it’s been known for some 30 years that Yellowstone is actually a huge volcanic system many eyes are trained on it’s activity. We will, at least, have plenty of warning should scientists suspect Yellowstone is preparing to blow it’s cork again.
Caldera : a volcanic crater that has a diameter many times that of the vent and is formed by the collapse of the central part of a volcano or by explosions of extraordinary violence. Merriam Webster
Photo thanks: National Parks Service
Labels: Yellowstone
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