Yellowstone's Super Volcano - Discovery Channel Podcast
Yellowstone is overdue
Yellowstone has had an unusually high frequency of earth quakes
Yellowstone's elevation has dramatically increased over the last 3 years.
Posted by geologist Christopher C. Sanders on January 1, 2009.
"I am advising all State officials around Yellowstone National Park for a potential State of Emergency. In the last week over 300 earthquakes have been observed by the USGS. We have a 3D view on the movement of magma rising underground. We have all of the pre warning signs of a major eruption from a super volcano. - I want everyone to leave Yellowstone National Park and for 200 miles around the volcano caldera."
Yellowstone Super Volcano Alert - History Channel Special
YELLOWSTONE SPECIAL ALERT - 01.23.2010 - USGS reports well over a thousand earthquakes within the last 7 days, four of which rattled Yellowstone National Park.
Yellowstone National Park spokesman Al Nash says people reported feeling the Wednesday quakes at the park locations of Old Faithful, Canyon and Mammoth and in the Montana towns of West Yellowstone and Gardiner.
The University of Utah Seismograph Station speculates that the swarms of earthquakes are probably the result of slipping preexisting faults rather than underground movement of magma. However faults are not know to produce non-stop earth quake activity lasting for weeks on end. Only underground magma on the move can do that, as the quakes are all concentrated inside Yellowstone Park rather than along a fault line running hundreds of miles in length. (Go figure)
Since no one in recorded history knows the warning signs of a super volcano about to erupt, obviously it's anyone's guess. Just know that if these quakes continue, it's advised that anyone within a 400 mile radios may want to find somewhere else to stay for a while until the ground stops moving in Yellowstone. Note. In 2006 President Bush jr. mandated that the USGS not talk to the public about the state of Yellowstone. Obviously the public is to be kept in the dark as Obama had not rescinded the order.
Satellite imagery, GPS stats, and a whole bunch of other data definitely suggest that Yellowstone could very well be in trouble soon. Like the park floor has gone UP 8 inches in the last few months, while the surrounding area has dropped.
FYI: In 2007 Bush issued a gag warning to all USGS employees not to talk to the public about Yellowstone until Bush could sensor any new DATA. Go figure!
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these are my fav!! amazing documentary by History channel
History Channel - Yellowstone 2009 Part 1 of 5
www.yellowstonecaldera.net Rolling out yet ANOTHER Yellowstone Supervolcano documentary in 2009, this makes number 9 since the year 2000, in an attempt at raising "Global Awareness" as stated being the reason behind all the Yellowstone Volcano Documentaries that have suddenly started surfacing since the year 2000. Like every documentary released, they all have their "unique" discoveries.
vid part 2 of 5
vid part 3 of 5
vid part 4 of 5 *****
vid part 5 of 5
Steam Explosions, Earthquakes, and Volcanic Eruptions—What’s in Yellowstone’s Future?
via U.S. Geological Survey
Yellowstone, one of the world’s largest active volcanic systems, has produced several giant volcanic eruptions in the past few million years, as well as many smaller eruptions and steam explosions. Although no eruptions of lava or volcanic ash have occurred for many thousands of years, future eruptions are likely. In the next few hundred years, hazards will most probably be limited to ongoing geyser and hot-spring activity, occasional steam explosions, and moderate to large earthquakes. To better understand Yellowstone’s volcano and earthquake hazards and to help protect the public, the U.S. Geological Survey, the University of Utah, and Yellowstone National Park formed the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, which continuously monitors activity in the region.
A 6-page version optimized for print is available as a .pdf here (fs2005-3024.pdf; 1.9 MB)
Each year, millions of visitors come to admire the hot springs and geysers of Yellowstone, the Nation’s first national park. Few are aware that these wonders are fueled by heat from a large reservoir of partially molten rock (magma), just a few miles beneath their feet. As this magma-which drives one of the world’s largest volcanic systems-rises, it pushes up the Earth’s crust beneath the Yellowstone Plateau.
Midway Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park appears otherworldly beneath stormy skies. In the background, steam vigorously rises from the hot waters of Grand Prismatic Spring, known for its rainbow colors produced by thermophilic (“heat loving”) organisms. Grand Prismatic is the largest hot spring in Yellowstone and the third largest in the world. This and other hydrothermal (hot water) features are among the main attractions for visitors to the park (inset photo). These features are fueled by heat from a large reservoir of partially molten rock (magma), just a few miles beneath Yellowstone, that drives one of the world’s largest volcanic systems. (Photograph courtesy of Robert Fournier; inset courtesy of Susan Mayfield.)
Yellowstone press images here
Stresses in the crust produce movements on faults, causing earthquakes to occur. Thousands of small quakes are recorded each year by the seismographic network of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO), a partnership of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the University of Utah, and Yellowstone National Park. Faults and fractures also allow surface water to penetrate to depth and become heated, rising again to produce hydrothermal (hot water) features, such as geysers. Steam and hot water carry huge quantities of thermal energy to the surface from the magma chamber below. Continuing up-and-down ground motions on the Yellowstone Plateau reflect the migration of both hydrothermal fluids and magma below the surface. Ground motions, earthquakes, and hydrothermal activity are all current manifestations of volcanic activity at Yellowstone. In the not-so-distant geologic past, Yellowstone has produced many major volcanic eruptions, which have repeatedly reshaped its natural wonders.
(continue reading here..)
Yellowstone is home to one of the world’s largest active volcanic systems. Cataclysmic eruptions in the past few million years created huge volcanic depressions called “calderas.” The youngest, the Yellowstone Caldera, was formed 640,000 years ago. Since then, about 80 eruptions of rhyolite (thick, sticky lava) and basalt (more-fluid lava) have occurred. The caldera’s interior is largely covered by rhyolites, most erupted in the past 160,000 years. Large hydrothermal (steam)-explosion craters formed in the past 14,000 years are located near Yellowstone Lake and in major geyser basins. Recent earthquakes (1973 to 2002) were concentrated between Hebgen Lake and the Norris Geyser Basin and along faults.
Since its last cataclysmic volcanic eruption 640,000 ago, the Yellowstone region has had about 40 eruptions of slow-moving lava flows of rhyolite (a variety of molten rock that is thick and sticky). Some of these flows cover more than 100 square miles, and many are very thick, like this approximately 180,000-year-old rhyolite flow exposed at Obsidian Cliff. Although no lava has been erupted at Yellowstone for 70,000 years, future such eruptions are likely to occur. (USGS photograph by Robert Christiansen.)
The Yellowstone National Park region produces about 2,000 earthquakes each year. Most of these quakes are too small to be felt, but they reflect the active nature of the region, one of the most seismically active areas in the United States.
The most powerful earthquake in Yellowstone’s recent history occurred in 1959. This quake was centered near Hebgen Lake, just west of the park, and had a magnitude (M) of 7.5. The Hebgen Lake earthquake killed 28 people-26 in a huge landslide triggered by the quake-and caused $11 million in damage (about $70 million in 2005 dollars). Numerous structures and roads in the region were severely damaged when hillsides collapsed, gaping cracks opened in the ground, and large blocks of rock were displaced.
The Hebgen Lake quake caused widespread changes in Yellowstone-roads were closed throughout the area, some geysers stopped erupting, and others were newly formed or came back to life after years of dormancy. Also, the Old Faithful Inn was strongly shaken-pipes broke, a chimney collapsed, and the inn had to be evacuated.
Although quakes of this magnitude are rare in the Yellowstone region, they are certain to occur in the future. To better understand this hazard and help protect the public, scientists of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO) continually monitor the region’s seismic activity.
Seismogram of the 1959 magnitude 7.5 Hebgen Lake earthquake recorded at Butte, Montana, about 100 miles from the epicenter.
Excelsior Geyser erupted in a series of violent hydrothermal explosions in the 1880s and early 1890s; one of these eruptions is shown in this colorized postcard made from a photograph. These were the largest such events to occur in the Yellowstone region in historical times. (Original photograph by F. Jay Haynes, 1888; date on postcard is incorrect.)
Yellowstone National Park research geologist Rick Hutchinson examines rock debris thrown out in a 1989 hydrothermal explosion at Porkchop Geyser. [In March 1997, Hutchinson was killed in a snow avalanche while on duty inspecting thermal features in the park.] (Photograph courtesy of Robert Smith, University of Utah.)
some nice images of Yellowston National Park
a lots of beautiful falls images in one place via grandcanyon site, Just wow!!
Yellowstone Canyon: This national park, created by the federal government on March 1, 1872, an area of 3,468 square miles in parts of northwest Wyoming, Eastern Idaho, Southern Montana and it sits on a high plateau at an elevation of 8000 feet.via Yellowstone National Park uwec.edu
source: www.berann.com/panorama/ yellowstone_l.jpg
