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Yellowstone super volcano

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fairviewcrew
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So with the recent activity in Yellowstone, new fissures showing up... got me thinking. What do you do if the super volcano erupts?

I realize a ton of casualties instaneously in the Rockies states... but let's say you are in Houston/Dallas. What do you do? How long do you have for the ash to get to Texas?

You hunker down or try to get as far away as possible (Mexico or east coast)?
IDAGG
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AG
fairviewcrew said:

So with the recent activity in Yellowstone, new fissures showing up... got me thinking. What do you do if the super volcano erupts?

I realize a ton of casualties instaneously in the Rockies states... but let's say you are in Houston/Dallas. What do you do? How long do you have for the ash to get to Texas?

You hunker down or try to get as far away as possible (Mexico or east coast)?
I assume it depends on wind currents and how long the eruption lasts. Texas could be completely spared from ash. Or it could get a few inches. The good thing for Texas is that it should make your summers considerably cooler for a few years.
oragator
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You are good there. Kinda.

https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/yellowstone/yellowstone_sub_page_91.html
IDAGG
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From the link Oragator posted:



Looks like the Panhandle could get an inch or so.

ETA that is based on a month long eruption with January winds.
Mathguy64
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If the Yellowstone SV blew I would expect how many inches of ash fall we may or may not get in Texas would be pretty low on the list of things I would be worried about.
Ulrich
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atmospheric ash, global cooling, and famine are the real dangers once you're outside of the immediate area.
aggiepublius
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Prepare for the Rocky Mountain refugees. And buy a couple of cases of various types of air filters.

And prepare for the deluge of ash related auto cleaning products and sales scams. Seriously, I remember those popping up even in Texas after the Mt. St. Helen's eruption.
carpe vinum
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Who knows when this stuff will happen, incredible to even try to get your head around the impact.
Sounds like it's overdue.

The one that I was reading about a couple years ago is the PNW subduction zone(s).
When those things finally let go the destruction sounds unfathomable.
IDAGG
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carpe vinum said:



The one that I was reading about a couple years ago is the PNW subduction zone(s).
When those things finally let go the destruction sounds unfathomable.
You are probably referring to this article: The Really Big One. It is a fascinating read. From 2015. Actual science and history.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/20/the-really-big-one
Burnsey
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Mostly red states.
EMY92
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aggiepublius said:

Prepare for the Rocky Mountain refugees. And buy a couple of cases of various types of air filters.

And prepare for the deluge of ash related auto cleaning products and sales scams. Seriously, I remember those popping up even in Texas after the Mt. St. Helen's eruption.
Few would make it out of the heavily impacted regions. The ash will choke vehicles and people. Power grids will be destroyed and fuel will quickly run out.

If Yellowstone blew, the US would quickly fall and the rest of the world would descend into chaos.
eric76
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fairviewcrew said:

So with the recent activity in Yellowstone, new fissures showing up... got me thinking. What do you do if the super volcano erupts?

I realize a ton of casualties instaneously in the Rockies states... but let's say you are in Houston/Dallas. What do you do? How long do you have for the ash to get to Texas?

You hunker down or try to get as far away as possible (Mexico or east coast)?
We don't even know if there will ever be another super eruption at Yellowstone.
eric76
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carpe vinum said:

Who knows when this stuff will happen, incredible to even try to get your head around the impact.
Sounds like it's overdue.

The one that I was reading about a couple years ago is the PNW subduction zone(s).
When those things finally let go the destruction sounds unfathomable.
The news media likes to hype things to sell advertisements.

I don't think that you'll find any credible volcanologist who will agree that a super-eruption is overdue.

The fact is that the last eruptions at Yellowstone have been less devastating eruptions such as lava flows.

There have been three super-eruptions at Yellowstone. While it is possible that Yellowstone could give us another super-eruption in the future, there is no reason to think that it will be any time in the next several thousand years.

The same hot spot that has resulted in the three super-eruptions at Yellowstone has also caused something like nine other super-eruptions prior to the ones at Yellowstone. Even if it produces another super-eruption, it might be millions of years in the future and be somewhere other than Yellowstone.
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fairviewcrew
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Even if Texas gets just a couple inches of ash... I would be getting out of here. As many have said, would cause mass chaos... food shortages. Is some volcanic ash poisonous?
45-70Ag
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So everyone goes to Mexico
That would be ironic.
CS78
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fairviewcrew said:


What do you do if the super volcano erupts?

ellebee
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**** it. Bring it, *****es.
carpe vinum
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IDAGG said:

carpe vinum said:



The one that I was reading about a couple years ago is the PNW subduction zone(s).
When those things finally let go the destruction sounds unfathomable.
You are probably referring to this article: The Really Big One. It is a fascinating read. From 2015. Actual science and history.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/20/the-really-big-one
That one and others paint a cataclysmic picture.
Burrus86
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I'd say the folks in the panhandle should fire the tractors up and disk the ash into the ground....get ready for next year's crop.
Tx-Ag2010
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coyote68
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Life as we know it is over.
One-Eyed Fat Man
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The impact would be from dropping global temps significantly, and the most fertile farmland on earth being covered in several feet of ash. The best places to be will be in West Yellowstone, Bozeman, Jackson and Casper. Get it over with quickly.
El Chupacabra
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I'm curious if my Jeep will make it through >1,000mm of ash. Probably not. I'm in the 'you be f***ed' zone.
Burnsey
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The whole planet doesn't die over one super volcano. Geez. Yes, it's going to suck to be in Wyoming and Nebraska. Yes, there will be casualties, chaos and disruptions to our food supply and economy. Still, human life will go on because we can plan, prepare, innovate, adapt, and adjust.
Apache
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We got ourselves a volcano denier folks. THE SCIENCE IS SETTLED!
Mowdy Ag
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Obviously mankind's industrial mischief is responsible for heating up the subsurface. Hey, it's time for a new lib cause du jour!
45-70Ag
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Maybe it happens during a prolonged easterly wind and Seattle turns into Pompey
NW80
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I've read most of your comments. Recently I had the benefit of spending a day with a Geoarchiologist in West Texas. I asked him specifically about the Yellowstone Volcano.
He said .
" ..... it's gonna blow and when it does it's supposed to be 6-10 times the magnitude of the original."
To which I replied ".... we'll be safe in Texas, won't we?"
He said " I did a dig recently near Austin and uncovered a 2 foot layer of ash from the original eruption. That would have blackened the sky for 2or 3 months and killed everything . "

So unlike some of y'all, I'm a little worried.
45-70Ag
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Thanks for ruining my day
P.H. Dexippus
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The Lava Creek Tuff is over 650ft thick in places.
45-70Ag
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Stupid question
How far down are these ash layers from the last time Yellowstone had this kind of event?


Did Tennessee annex North Carolina?
TxLawDawg
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That's a USGS map, why the heck is it metric?
eric76
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NW80 said:

I've read most of your comments. Recently I had the benefit of spending a day with a Geoarchiologist in West Texas. I asked him specifically about the Yellowstone Volcano.
He said .
" ..... it's gonna blow and when it does it's supposed to be 6-10 times the magnitude of the original."
To which I replied ".... we'll be safe in Texas, won't we?"
He said " I did a dig recently near Austin and uncovered a 2 foot layer of ash from the original eruption. That would have blackened the sky for 2or 3 months and killed everything . "

So unlike some of y'all, I'm a little worried.
6-10 times the magnitude of the original seems extremely unlikely. I suspect the odds of that are even less than the odds of a nuclear war between Oklahoma and Texas.

According to https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/yellowstone/yellowstone_geo_hist_50.html, the original eruption at Yellowstone was 2,450 cubic kilometers. 6 to 10 times that would be 14,700 to 24,500 cubic kilometers. In contrast, the last super eruption at Yellowstone was 1,000 cubic kilometers.

From https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/yellowstone/faqs_misconceptions.html:
Quote:

  • Misconception #1: When Yellowstone erupts. it'll be Armageddon.

    The most likely explosive event to occur at Yellowstone is actually a hydrothermal eruption -- a rock-hurling geyser eruption -- or a lava flow. Though the worst-case scenario for a giant Yellowstone eruption is indeed bad, and could have global implications, most past eruptions at Yellowstone were not highly explosive. Of the past 50 or so eruptions, almost all were simple lava flows. If they occurred tomorrow, or next year, they would have minimal direct effect outside Yellowstone National Park. This is the most likely volcanic scenario at Yellowstone. You can read our published report discussing the relative likelihood of eruptions at Yellowstone.

    As for the worst-case scenario, even previous Yellowstone supereruptions did not cause extinctions, and ash fallout on the other side of the continent was minimal.

  • Misconception #2: The Yellowstone magma chamber is growing.

    There's no evidence for that one. Though we get better and better at understanding the extent of magma beneath Yellowstone, that doesn't mean the magma storage region is growing. A study, done by scientists at the University of Utah (and colleagues at Caltech and the University of New Mexico), reveals a lot of partly molten rock, but nearly all of it appears too "frozen" to erupt. And no one has found evidence for an increase in the size of the near-surface magma reservoir (the one that feeds the eruptions) within the timeframe that we have been monitoring Yellowstone.

    Eruptions at Yellowstone are possible, but we have no evidence that enough melt has accumulated in one place to feed a supereruption (1000 cubic kilometers of volcanic debris). Again, if it were to erupt, the most likely type of eruption would be a comparatively non-explosive lava flow.

  • Misconception #3: Yellowstone is overdue for a supereruption.

    See #1. If it does erupt, it need not be a large eruption. Moreover, there's no necessity that there will be another supereruption. Most volcanic systems do not have multiple such events. When they do, the supereruptions are not evenly spaced in time. Finally, it is not valid to calculate a recurrence period solely on two values (the two intervals between supereruptions). Therefore, the calculations you may hear stating that Yellowstone is some number of years overdue for a supereruption is mathematically inaccurate.

  • Misconception #4: Yellowstone is rapidly rising.

    Not as of May 2015. Since regular monitoring of Yellowstone began in the 1970s, we have observed episodes of relatively rapid uplift and subsidence (3 to 5 inches per year), notably from 2004 to 2010. However, as of May 2015, not much is happening. Anyone interested can readily find the latest monitoring data or the Yellowstone monthly updates. Yellowstone clearly can move up and down regularly without erupting. No volcanic eruption has occurred at Yellowstone for 70,000 years.

  • Misconception #5: Earthquake data indicates moving magma.

    Almost all earthquakes at Yellowstone are brittle-failure events caused when rocks break due to crustal stresses. Though we've been looking for years at Yellowstone, no one has yet identified "long-period (LP) events" commonly attributed to magma movement. When they are observed, that will not mean Yellowstone is getting ready to erupt. LP earthquakes are observed commonly at other volcanoes in the world, including California, which have not erupted for centuries or millennia. One variety of ground shaking, called tremor, does occur at Yellowstone's geothermal areas. That is because tremor is observed any time water boils in a geyser, though special seismic arrays must be used to detect this type of small ground motion.

Note that this is from the US Geological Survey and so there are no copyright violations in quoting the list in its entirity.

Also, check out https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/yellowstone/faqs_future_activity.html.

wangus12
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AG
You guys need to stop watching that 2012 movie. It was terrible
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