The volcano in Yellowstone park.

[thir]

I do not quite know where to put this topic, so I put it here..

I recently came across an article about the Yellowstone vulcano, and wonder if there is any chance of 'letting the steam' out of it in a safe way?

Anybody heard anything?

[Thorne]

Not sure there's a safe way to 'let the steam out' of even a small volcano, much less a super volcano like Yellowstone. That thing is huge, and if it undergoes a major eruption it would cover everything east of it in several feet of ash, all the way to the east coast. I would imagine that doing something to relieve the pressure would be like trying to let the air out of an over-inflated balloon with a sharp needle.

KABOOM!

As I understand it, the magma in the chamber below the park contains immense quantities of dissolved gases, which are held there only by the tremendous pressure of the magma. Releasing that pressure would allow the gases to escape, similar to opening a soda bottle after shaking it. Doesn't sound like a good idea to me.

[Snark]

The steam, as evidenced by the geysers and bubbling springs are surface phenomena. As Thorne has related, the energy contained within the caldera is stored in gases as well as the upwelling magma. When Mt St. Helens popped, it wasn't steam that blew out the side of the mountain. When - not if - Yellowstone pops; which it has many times in the past, the east coast north of Miami will be toast, at least as far east as Pittsburgh, and the rest of the world will be impacted by the amount of ash sent to the stratosphere. But hey- melanoma cases will drop like a rock!

[thir]

Thank you both.

A daunting prospect, and for once one we haven't created ourselves.

[Thorne]

Thank you both.

A daunting prospect, and for once one we haven't created ourselves.

For once? The number and ways humans have developed to wipe out civilization pale in comparison to the number and ways in which the universe can do it. Even a little hiccup from the core can't hardly compare.