C’mon guys, if there is one thing science fiction has taught us, it’s that the minute we elect an African American president, we are in danger of a megadisaster.
Like 24! tick tock
The Yellowstone caldera girded its mighty loins and prepared to post the biggest threadshit ever to the messageboard Earth.
You’ve still got the gift, Boyo Jim. Happy new year!
Figs are, after all, fruits.
talk about hot and bothered on a whole nother level 
Not very big, but there was a 2.4 all the way down at 37 kilometers this afternoon.
The core itself is probably headed towards Wyoming. 
I’d buy one.
Sigh. Leave it to middle America to fuck things up for the rest of the world. First we play a huge role in putting W into office, then we vomit lava and ash all over the place. It’s no wonder we have a bad reputation.
I noticed that one, but the location data was listed as “Poor”. It wasn’t in the same place as most of the others, so I’m not sure if that means there’s not as much instrumentation in that area or if they couldn’t get a fix on that one.
Any hope of there being some kind of volcano series of tubes and Mt St Helens blows next and then Seattle will be an exclusive island? Or are we just gonna sink into the Puget Sound?
You should be more concerned about Mount Rainier than Mount St. Helens.
Well, I sure am glad we saw Old Faithful a couple years ago, so I can now say I saw it before the friggin’ thing blew us all to hell.
I hope it doesn’t release any nasty C02. Al Gore will get upset.
The manbearpigs it releases will probably make him blow his top.
Analysis of the Toba eruption indicates the mechanism below ground is a truly gigantic lava chamber that is filled from a hot spot below. The eruption event for an extra grande one like this would look like:
Lava chamber filling to capacity causing ground uplift
Basaltic lava melting away lower melting point chamber ceiling, lava lamp style
A popped seam somewhere partially emptying the lava chamber
The roof of the lava chamber, no longer supported by lava, suddenly collapses. Either immediately or within a day or two.
The entire contents of the lava chamber are explosively erupted by the sudden uncorking as well as the huge chunks of ceiling crashing down. Mostly in the form of ash*.
The chamber ceiling could also just collapse suddenly. The quake swarm may be the beginnings, or it may just be indigestion. No way to tell right now. But if there is a significant precursor eruption at Yellowstone you might want to move in a directly awayward direction, at least for a few days.
- Volcanic ash is composed of little needles of glass. When you breath the ash, those little needles get lodged in your lungs and cuts them up. If you get enough of the stuff you drown. I gotta think that would sting a bit. One of the handy items in my emergency kit is an OSHA type respirator.
Meh, everybody knows it’s not dangerous until the rogue outsider scientist tries to warn everybody on the grounds of some non-mainstream theories that have earned him nothing but scorn and ridicule from the scientific community. We’re safe until some geologist gets laughed out of a press conference.
And we can expect to go through the whole thing again in 2 years, but with better production values and shittier writing.
So what Jaglavak is saying is…it’s like a great big Zit!
What I don’t understand though, from a Structural Engineering point of view, is if the roof collapses due to it not being supported by lava, where’s all the explosive stuff come from? I’d think it would have to burst due to it’s inability to contain the pressures of the lava below.
I look forward to the rerun of the Discovery Channel show, which posits it’s idea in the first 1:30, then pads out the rest of the hour with ‘Decompressive Pyroclastic Flow!’ (brought to you by the makers of Pepto Bismol…coats, soothes… relieves!)
Would there be no way of drilling in to a volcano to release pressure more gradually, and perhaps even harnessing that energy?