[Rockhounds] Something going on in Yellowstone

Fri Jan 2 09:34:09 PST 2009

Howdy, y'all!
                     I'm just an armchair seeker of knowledge, and therefore
rely upon those (Y'all, I hope! *grin!*) who actually HAVE some expertise in
these matters. However, after searching "Yellowstone Lake snowpack average"
I got this page: Development and comparison of Landsat radiometric and
snowpack model inversion techniques for estimating geothermal heat
flux.<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V6V-4P2JD2S-4&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=65aeb4b83702bde60b58970955e6e247>
I've barely begun wading through this, and aside from my barely dilettante
level research in High School Ecology class, I've had no formal training in
these matters. So, I hope that this might be of interest to someone out
there. If it leads to any epiphanies, please let me know!  *grin!*

I've been following this story with much interest for several weeks now, and
have noticed that most news accounts show a "Doom & Gloom" attitude, with
the SUPER-Volcano designation (?) bandied about for dramatic effect. For the
NightOwls out there, Coast to Coast AM spent several moments during their
annual "prediction" show discussing the dreadful consequences of an eruption
of this magmitic (migmatic? magnetic? millefiore? ... Whatever! *grin!*)
feature, ending (thankfully!) with the note that "major eruptions" of the
Yellowstone Caldera were "infrequent." They did note (with barely disguised
glee) that such an event would likely "change the world!"

Oh, really, ya' think so?  *lol*

Be Well, y'all!
                      Kris
                      Lapidary Specialties
On Thu, Jan 1, 2009 at 3:59 PM, Kreigh Tomaszewski
<Kreigh at tomaszewski.net>wrote:

> Or take a look at the Wiki article at
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowstone_supervolcano
>
>
>
>
> On Thursday, Jan 1, 2009, at 12:31 America/Detroit, Tim Fisher wrote:
>
>  It has happened many times with the same hotspot. Google McDermitt
>> caldera.
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: rockhounds-bounces at lists.drizzle.com
>> [mailto:rockhounds-bounces at lists.drizzle.com] On Behalf Of Dora Smith
>> Sent: Thursday, January 01, 2009 6:28 AM
>> To: J Bryan Kramer; Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and
>> gem
>> collectors
>> Subject: Re: [Rockhounds] Something going on in Yellowstone
>>
>> I'm the original not expert.  I learn something totally new about it every
>> five minutes.   I did learn in teh course of reading through some of that
>> stuff that apparently the basalt flows predate the hot spot eruptions,
>> some
>> ancient - shield volcano?
>>
>> I've no idea when such a thing happened in North America.    And to be
>> more
>> confusing I got the impression that there were more ordinary eruptions
>> before that happened.   Not Earth didn't have an entire history before teh
>> end-Permian extinction, and there was a smaller flood basalt eruption in
>> India at the end of the Cretaceous, but I keep thinking that a flood
>> basalt
>> eruption in North America must coincide with the development of the crust
>> itself if I never heard of it before.
>>
>> But it sounds like you're not familiar with the Yellowstone caldera at
>> all.
>> This is a very different type of volcano, and they only came to understand
>> it since I graduated from college 30 years ago.    VERY recent.  Hah, hah,
>> hah.    Santorini, the volcano that may be associated with the Exodus
>> phonemena, was of this sort, and so was the eruption of Toba in the
>> Phillippines 75,000 years ago that brought the human race to the brink of
>> extinction.   Not a flood basalt, but the next biggest monster.
>>  Sometimes
>> very thick magma builds up in a huge, abscess-like crater underground
>> under
>> such conditions that it can't easily erupt to the surface.    When it does
>> that's a problem enough - you get pyroclastic flows and ash clouds that
>> travel some little distance.   Like in Pompeii, and Mt. St. Helen's.
>> But large caldera volcanoes erupt rarely and alter Earth's history when
>> they
>> happen.    If Yellowstone blew it would kill all life on half the North
>> American continent and the climate changes would  starve nearly everyone
>> else on the planet.    Problem is it's due to blow and pressure is
>> building
>> up, and noone knows how much pressure has to build up or what it all
>> means.
>> The cycle of that volcano is in hundreds of thousands of years - not our
>> time scale.    Confusing the issue is that the volcano is caused by a hole
>> in the Earth's crust that moves over time, relative to I think the North
>> American plate.  Unfortunately it hasn't at this time moved out from under
>> the last caldera, but it does appear to have moved in a direction
>> consistent
>> with its previous movement.   If the volcano significantly changed its
>> geology it could conceivably begin to erupt less violently.  Though part
>> of
>> the violence is due to the nature of the magma rather than the hard cap
>> formed by the previous eruption.
>>
>> Several years ago I got interested and put together a web page.
>> http://www.tiggernut24.com/catastrophes.html   There's an associated page
>> on
>> teh geology of Sumatra and subduction faults that isn't relevant to much
>> that goes on in North America (except in teh Cascades).
>> http://www.tiggernut24.com/earthquake.html   I begin with a link to the
>> web
>> pages of a PBS special a few years ago.   And the Wikipedia article, and
>> some general geology of hot spots and caldera volcanos.
>>
>> One thing that complicates the issue is that between the monster eruptions
>> every 600,000 to 700,000 years, Yellowstone does have smaller and more
>> normal eruptions, and these have left more routine lava flows in the area.
>> I'm not yet up on what kinds of volcano flows leave what kinds of lava
>> deposits, and it's very relevant to understanding Yellowstone.   I thought
>> people here would know that.   On my web site I also have links to some
>> new
>> technical papers that ought to include that information.
>>
>> Yours,
>> Dora Smith
>> Austin, TX
>> tiggernut24 at yahoo.com
>>
>>
>> --
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>>
>
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