# How would you destroy an erupting underwater volcano? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 16, 2010, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-destroy-an-erupting-underwater-volcano/546956 "2010-07-16T19:35:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2010, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-destroy-an-erupting-underwater-volcano/546956/41 "2010-07-19T06:33:39Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > This brings up the question of why humans keep thinking that they can control natural events at all. We are a pretty smart species but still little piss-ants in the overall scheme of things. Not really; IIRC in terms of of comparison to natural forces we’re up there with wind or fresh water in terms of how much material we move. Our biggest problem is a lack of understanding more than sheer power. > [@Shagnasty](#): > > My home state of Louisiana got hit twice in the last five years with horrible disasters. The first was Katrina which should be an easy one if we had as much power as we think we do but that was a mega-fail. Then, there was the Gulf Oil volcano which was an epic fail because it was engineered by people and still couldn’t be stopped. We will have to see if it is fixed but there is at least a generation’s worth of damage already done. Both of those were due to incompetence and an unwillingness to do what needed to be done; not weakness on the part of humanity. That said, I doubt we could do much; it’s not only a powerful natural phenomena, it’s in a hard to access environment and dangerous to approach. And just as important, we really don’t know how to deal with something like this, especially since the vital parts are deep underground and hard to study. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if, for example, it would be possible to collapse a volcano throat shut and cover it with enough debris to suppress further eruptions with multiple nukes. If, that is, we knew where to put the things instead of having to wildly guess and hope we don’t just make a bigger volcano instead. “Nuke and hope” doesn’t strike me as a good tactic. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2010, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-destroy-an-erupting-underwater-volcano/546956/42 "2010-07-19T06:54:30Z")
> [@gladtobeblazed](#): > > We could put solar sails on a large asteroid or comet, directing it to Earth and if we can put it into the correct re-entry path, it will land on the volcano, demolishing it. Seems to be the best idea so far. I’m pretty sure that neighboring countries won’t worry any more about the volcano 😃 ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2010, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-destroy-an-erupting-underwater-volcano/546956/43 "2010-07-19T07:00:15Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > Do you mean to nuke the east side and the west side of the volcano at the same time? Kind of like pinching a giant zit… That was a reference to a different and a bit heated thread. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2010, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-destroy-an-erupting-underwater-volcano/546956/44 "2010-07-19T12:00:52Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Not really; IIRC in terms of of comparison to natural forces we’re up there with wind or fresh water in terms of how much material we move. I don’t believe this for a second. Do you have any numbers to back this up? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2010, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-destroy-an-erupting-underwater-volcano/546956/45 "2010-07-19T12:54:59Z")
[Bean-o](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beano_%28dietary_supplement%29) will stop an erupting underwear volcano. Oh, wait. Under_water_? Never mind, then. Though you could try it, I suppose. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-destroy-an-erupting-underwater-volcano/546956.md?page=2)