Super Volcano Will Challenge Civilization, Geologists Warn

w1z4rd

w1z4rd

Karmic Sangoma
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The eruption of a super volcano "sooner or later" will chill the planet and threaten human civilization, British scientists warned Tuesday.

And now the bad news: There's not much anyone can do about it.

Several volcanoes around the world are capable of gigantic eruptions unlike anything witnessed in recorded history, based on geologic evidence of past events, the scientists said. Such eruptions would dwarf those of Mount St. Helens, Krakatoa, Pinatubo and anything else going back dozens of millennia.

"Super-eruptions are up to hundreds of times larger than these," said Stephen Self of the United Kingdom's (U.K.) Open University.

"An area the size of North America can be devastated, and pronounced deterioration of global climate would be expected for a few years following the eruption," Self said. "They could result in the devastation of world agriculture, severe disruption of food supplies, and mass starvation. These effects could be sufficiently severe to threaten the fabric of civilization."

Self and his colleagues at the Geological Society of London presented their report to the U.K. Government's Natural Hazard Working Group.

"Although very rare these events are inevitable, and at some point in the future humans will be faced with dealing with and surviving a super eruption," Stephen Sparks of the University of Bristol told LiveScience in advance of Tuesday's announcement.

Supporting evidence

The warning is not new. Geologists in the United States detailed a similar scenario in 2001, when they found evidence suggesting volcanic activity in Yellowstone National Park will eventually lead to a colossal eruption. Half the United States will be covered in ash up to 3 feet (1 meter) deep, according to a study published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters.
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http://www.livescience.com/environment/050308_super_volcano.html

At the risk of being a party pooper... I have a strong feeling that the Yellowstone national park caldera could pop within the next 10 years :)
 
Hmm, and I live a few hundred k's from one. Taupo. Note that the mountain isn't the volcano (although it is active), it's the lake.
 
Yea so pollute some more so we can destroy the planet 100000 years before that eruption ever takes place? Clever

Almost the same as committing suicide because your going die one day.
 
What are the odds though? the scientists say these events are rare so I don't really see this happening... well in our lifetimes anyway.
 
Methinks we're far more likely to wipe ourselves out before something like this happens.
 
I dunno.. we are versatile. We made it through the religious age (The Dark Ages), and through the beginning of the nuclear age without killing all of each other or ourselves.
 
killadoob said:
Nuclear age? surely we are in the nuclear age now?
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Weve made it through the begining of the nuclear age... we havent harnessed all its power yet. Weve only tapped into the one form of nuclear energy.
 
but remember that man's tenacious will to survive... so I don't think we all will die off...

ps,
I've got a feeling that this killing volcano will go off in 2012
 
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Hmm, begs the question: why did/do people buy houses near volcanoes.

3 Bedroom house, 2 bathrooms, spaceous kitchen and living room, pool.
Close to schools, malls, hospitals and A FIERY MOUNTAIN OF MOLTEN DEATH that has been dormant for 1000 years.

DO NOT WANT.
 
Ivan... said:
Hmm, begs the question: why did/do people buy houses near volcanoes.

3 Bedroom house, 2 bathrooms, spaceous kitchen and living room, pool.
Close to schools, malls, hospitals and A FIERY MOUNTAIN OF MOLTEN DEATH that has been dormant for 1000 years.

DO NOT WANT.
Click to expand...

lol, and why do people build near rivers that flood (the Mississippi) and why do people live the the desert?
 
mmm ... new blockbuster movie in the making??? ....
plot: super volcano to erupt, team of a few to travel to the earths core to stop it from happening, maybe get the same cast as "Armageddon" (bruce willis), actually it can be seen as a sequel to Armageddon
 
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