# Yellowstone's gonna blow! We're all doooooooooomed! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 31, 2008, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellowstones-gonna-blow-were-all-doooooooooomed/479304 "2008-12-31T01:19:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellowstones-gonna-blow-were-all-doooooooooomed/479304/1 "2008-12-31T01:19:18Z")
[Doooooooooooooooooomed!!!](http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hklq5saMBlMynv31EbfNSka-SpOwD95COBD00) Note that the park spokesman’s “nothing to worry about” is about the quakes, not the potential for catastrophic eruption! Dooooooooooooooomed! ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellowstones-gonna-blow-were-all-doooooooooomed/479304/2 "2008-12-31T01:21:58Z")
Not me. I’m to the west, so I just get to look at the pretty light show. ---
**Author:** ![Hanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b3f665/32.png) [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellowstones-gonna-blow-were-all-doooooooooomed/479304/3 "2008-12-31T01:23:25Z")
I’m glad I got to visit last summer…it might not be there next summer. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellowstones-gonna-blow-were-all-doooooooooomed/479304/4 "2008-12-31T01:31:51Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#): > > Not me. I’m to the west, so I just get to look at the pretty light show. Ha No. The eruption 70,000 years ago the article mentions was merely an expansive lava flow, really nothing like the full power of the caldera. It’s classed as a supervolcano, and we know of the last three supereruptions, occurring about every 600,000 years. The last one was 640,000 years ago. If it happens again, you’re boned. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellowstones-gonna-blow-were-all-doooooooooomed/479304/5 "2008-12-31T01:45:13Z")
> [@Q.E.D](#): > > If it happens again, you’re boned. You’re boned, I’m boned, pretty much everyone in North America is boned. That kind of eruption would render an area thousands of kilometres wide uninhabitable. Right in the middle of our largest food-producing region. The only thing I can think of that would compare is the impact pf a medium-large asteroid (around 1 km). ---
**Author:** ![1010011010](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/ea666f/32.png) [@1010011010](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1010011010)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellowstones-gonna-blow-were-all-doooooooooomed/479304/6 "2008-12-31T01:52:29Z")
I’ve been checking the [Yellowstone Earthquake Tracker](http://www.seis.utah.edu/req2webdir/recenteqs/Maps/Yellowstone.html?) since when the “swarm” was only 15 a few days ago. It’s over 200 now. On the plus side, the plains will have a fresh new layer of rich volcanic soil when civilization recovers. ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellowstones-gonna-blow-were-all-doooooooooomed/479304/7 "2008-12-31T02:01:28Z")
Oh crap. You mean we gotta move all those goddamn wolves AGAIN? :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellowstones-gonna-blow-were-all-doooooooooomed/479304/8 "2008-12-31T02:36:05Z")
That’s what happens when you let unsupervised Hobbits wander around an active volcano. I blame the Park Rangers of the North. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellowstones-gonna-blow-were-all-doooooooooomed/479304/9 "2008-12-31T02:47:45Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > You’re boned, I’m boned, pretty much everyone in North America is boned. That kind of eruption would render an area thousands of kilometres wide uninhabitable. Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and the Dakotas are _habitale_? Learn something new every day… ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellowstones-gonna-blow-were-all-doooooooooomed/479304/10 "2008-12-31T02:57:23Z")
Mind you, those park rangers will be the first ones up against the stratosphere come the eruption. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellowstones-gonna-blow-were-all-doooooooooomed/479304/11 "2008-12-31T02:59:48Z")
Heh, I was just about to post a Chicken Little thread. Y’all are too fast for me. Back in the mid-80s, I spent about six months sitting a well on a ridge in the Tetons, maybe a hundred miles or so south of Yellowstone Lake. At the time, I didn’t know much of anything about Yellowstone’s previous eruptions. I’ve since read that the last really big one put something like 140 cubic miles of rock into the the air. That’s, er…quite a lot, really. ---
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellowstones-gonna-blow-were-all-doooooooooomed/479304/12 "2008-12-31T03:07:24Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > Note that the park spokesman’s “nothing to worry about” is about the quakes, not the potential for catastrophic eruption! If the hotspot erupts with full force, there will be nothing to worry about. You won’t have much time to worry. In fact, you’ll briefly think you were in a story written by **Boyo Jim**. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellowstones-gonna-blow-were-all-doooooooooomed/479304/13 "2008-12-31T03:11:40Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and the Dakotas are _habitale_? Learn something new every day… _Hobbit_ibal. Please try and keep up. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellowstones-gonna-blow-were-all-doooooooooomed/479304/14 "2008-12-31T03:12:48Z")
> [@DanBlather](#): > > _Hobbit_ibal. Please try and keep up. Shire, whatever you like. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellowstones-gonna-blow-were-all-doooooooooomed/479304/15 "2008-12-31T03:16:50Z")
Poking around in the links from the Earthquake Tracker linked above led me to a report from the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory titled [Preliminary Assessment of Volcanic and Hydrothermal Hazards in Yellowstone National Park and Vicinity](http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2007/1071/). ---
**Author:** ![parthenokinesis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/cc9497/32.png) [@parthenokinesis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/parthenokinesis)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellowstones-gonna-blow-were-all-doooooooooomed/479304/16 "2008-12-31T03:17:32Z")
If we’re lucky the eruption will trigger the La Palma volcano and we can immediately follow the super volcano with the mega tsunami. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellowstones-gonna-blow-were-all-doooooooooomed/479304/17 "2008-12-31T03:17:44Z")
One thing’s for certain – if she blows, the Denver Broncos would probably be playing a lot more away games. Seriously, though, if she blows at full force, the Americans and Canadians killed off quickly would be the lucky ones. Globally, untold hundreds of millions or even billions could starve to death, due to the one-two punch of not receiving their North American foodstuffs and nuclear winter-like effects, lessening agricultural output almost everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellowstones-gonna-blow-were-all-doooooooooomed/479304/18 "2008-12-31T03:20:38Z")
> [@Scuba\_Ben](#): > > If the hotspot erupts with full force, there will be nothing to worry about. You won’t have much time to worry. In fact, you’ll briefly think you were in a story written by **Boyo Jim**. I bloody well _hope_ it doesn’t do it while I’m taking a leak. I’d prefer it happen while I’m having hot, sweaty monkey sex. If the world’s going to go out with a bang, so am I. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellowstones-gonna-blow-were-all-doooooooooomed/479304/19 "2008-12-31T03:27:30Z")
> [@The\_Scrivener](#): > > …and nuclear winter-like effects. Well, that’s one way to fix global warming. ---
**Author:** ![dogbutler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogbutler/32/428_2.png) [@dogbutler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogbutler)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellowstones-gonna-blow-were-all-doooooooooomed/479304/20 "2008-12-31T03:28:45Z")
> [@The\_Scrivener](#): > > One thing’s for certain – if she blows, the Denver Broncos would probably be playing a lot more away games. > > Seriously, though, if she blows at full force, the Americans and Canadians killed off quickly would be the lucky ones. Globally, untold hundreds of millions or even billions could starve to death, due to the one-two punch of not receiving their North American foodstuffs and nuclear winter-like effects, lessening agricultural output almost everywhere. In that case, I’ll throw a Donner party. “Long pig, it’s not just for breakfast anymore.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellowstones-gonna-blow-were-all-doooooooooomed/479304.md?page=2)