Do you remember where you were when Yellowstone erupted?

by Nathan Natas 11 Replies latest jw friends

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  Nathan Natas

  Is Yellowstone Worse Than They Say? 14-Jan-2004
  

  Yellowstone Lake

  The U.S. Geological Service and the media have been super- conservative with their warnings about the Yellowstone supervolcano. But evidence is accumulating that the park is in big trouble because the vast volcanic region beneath its surface could be on a fast track to eruption. One source says, "The American people are not being told that the explosion of this 'super volcano' could happen at any moment. When Yellowstone does blow, some geologists predict that every living thing within six hundred miles is likely to die." The Idaho Observer reports that recent eruptions, 200 degree ground temperatures, bulging magma and 84 degree water temperatures are worrying scientists who are studying the area. Yellowstone National Park is on top of one of the largest "super volcanoes" in the world, with a regular eruption cycle of 600,000 years. The last eruption was 640,000 years ago?meaning the next one is long overdue, and it could be 2,500 times the size of the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption.
  

  Rangers have closed part of the park because of land deformation and high ground temperatures. Visitors are complaining about the stench of sulfur. Everything in the area of the bulge is dying, including trees, flowers, grass and shrubs. Even animals are leaving. Dead fish are floating in Yellowstone Lake.

  The Observer reports that "The irony of all this is the silence by the news media and our government. Very little information is available from Yellowstone personnel or publications. What mainstream news stories do appear underscore the likelihood of a massive volcanic eruption."
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  Badger

  Damned pro-volcano-biased Media!
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  Satanus

  I'ld bet it blows before armageddon comes. 'Course, if it does, there will be a great multitudeTM of jws and who think that it has come. Fundies will be rapturing right outta their clothes, cars, etc, leaving behind cellphones, ipods, etc for alert apostates to retrieve.

  Seriously though, it could be serious.

  SS
• 

  Aztec

  That's really scary. I checked on mapquest and I live 1,900 miles away but, I have friends and family that live much closer.

  I found another story:

  Long before any recorded human history in Yellowstone, a massive volcanic eruption spewed an immense volume of ash that covered all of the western U.S., much of the Midwest, northern Mexico and some areas of the eastern Pacific. The eruption dwarfed that of Mt. St. Helens in 1980 and left a caldera 30 miles wide by 45 miles long.

  That climactic event occurred about 640,000 years ago, and was one of many processes that shaped Yellowstone National Park--a region once rumored to be "the place where hell bubbles up." Geothermal wonders, such as Old Faithful, are evidence of one of the world's largest active volcanoes. These spectacular features bemused and befuddled the park's earliest visitors, and helped lead to the creation of the world's first national park.

  Fur trappers' fantastic tales of cauldrons of bubbling mud and roaring geysers sending steaming plumes skyward made their way back east. Several expeditions were sent to investigate, opening the West to further exploration and exploitation. In 1871, Ferdinand Hayden led an expedition that included artist Thomas Moran and photographer William H. Jackson. They brought back images that helped convince Congress that the area known as Yellowstone needed to be protected and preserved.

  In 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed a law declaring that Yellowstone would forever be "dedicated and set apart as a public park or pleasuring ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people."

  www.nps.gov/yell/

  ~Aztec
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  aunthill

  Hubby & I were in Yellowstone last summer. The sulfur odor was really powerful, but, since it was my first time there, I didn't think anything about it. I was amazed at the size of the caldera when I looked at the map - it is huge! I, too, have friends who live within range of an eruption, so I hope that after 640,000 years, it will hold off for another 100 years or so.

  Aunthill
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  MegaDude

  Dear Nathan,

  Thanks for raising my blood pressure. My sister lives less than 200 miles from Yellowstone.

  I tracked down where you got the article. I noticed you conveniently left off this part of the article:

  "If you live in the vicinity of Yellowstone, you may need some spirits to protect you." The link leads to a website to purchase a book on how to get spirits to protect you.

  And you got the article from Whitley Streiber's website, a science fiction writer who ran the scam that he met real aliens in his book "Communion."

  Thanks for this reliable information.
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  Nathan Natas

  Feel free to rely on the Park Service for the kind of "reliable information" you want to hear.
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  MegaDude

  Nathan,

  You could have at least mentioned the people promoting this super volcano explosion theory are the same people who are members of the Armageddon-is-a-Coming-Soon Freak Club.

  Why you chose to cut the "you may need spirits to protect you" part of the article is obvious, but it is less than honest on your part.
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  IronGland

  Mega, here's a few more sources:

  http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/frontiers_20021009.shtml

  http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/08/0828_wireyellowstone.html

  http://amos.indiana.edu/library/scripts/volcanoes.html

  http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/planetearth/volcano_monitor_010807-1.html
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  MegaDude

  Iron,

  Thanks for the links to credible websites. Interesting stuff.

  A quote from one of your links:

  "But an important question has evolved in recent years: Is Yellowstone dying or just hibernating?

  In the July 2001 issue of the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters, University of Wisconsin geologists Ilya Bindeman and John Valley report new evidence indicating "a high probability of a future catastrophic eruption sometime within the next million years, and possibly within the next hundred thousand years."