Yellowstone Depths Reveal Rock Plume

[Dover]

Yellowstone Depths Reveal Rock Plume
By Larry O'Hanlon, Discovery News


April 8, 2005 — A remarkable new view into the depths beneath Yellowstone has revealed what may be a strange "beheaded plume" of hot rock welling up from the Earth's mantle.

The discovery not only sheds light on the cause of Yellowstone's amazing geysers and gigantic prehistoric eruptions, but it's a preview of how the latest 3-D seismic tomographic imaging will very soon be revealing hidden structures in the ground under the entire continental U.S., said Yellowstone researcher Bob Smith of the University of Utah.

Smith made the announcement last week in the keynote address for at the first national meeting of the Earthscope program. ..cont'd
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20050404/yellowstone.html

[Selteri]

1. Wow this news is so breaking that...

it's only a confirmation of what scientists have been saying for over 7 years now. :sarcasm: Still, it's nice that they have confirmation of what these vulcanologists have been saying for a while to deaf ears.

[Clark2008]

2. I was reading about this the other night

It seems geological history says the plume of hot rock is due for an explosion any day. Apparently, it explodes every 600,000 years, like clockwork.



And, here's a link where you can monitor monthly seismic activity at Yellowstone.

http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/yvo/activity.html

[HawkerTyphoon]

3. You force me to reveal my true identity

Every summer for the past 10 years, I have worked as a seasonal naturalist (Park Ranger) in Yellowstone National Park.

Yellowstone's major eruptions being “like clockwork” and another one “due any day” are extreme exaggerations.

Here's a slide that is in the evening program that I present at the Old Faithful Visitor Center and Norris Campground Amphitheater.



As you can see on the slide, along the track of the Yellowstone Hot spot there have been eleven catastrophic eruptions and thousands of lava flows in the past 16.1 million years.

Before the latest, more accurate measurements were taken, the dates given for the past three catastrophic eruptions had been 600KYA, 1.2 MYA & 1.8 MYA.

Three eruption dates gives TWO intervals.

That’s not three intervals, that’s two intervals.

The fact that it is 600KY since the last eruption date is irrelevant, because it hasn’t erupted again (yet).

If you select the last two intervals out of a total of 10 (remember there have been 11 super eruptions, not just three.) and then predict that the next one will be the same as the last two, you are playing fast and loose with statistics. There’s 16.1 MY divided by 10 intervals = or 1.61 MY average between catastrophic eruptions.

As if that weren’t enough, the latest, (more accurate) measurements have shown that the past three have actually been 640 KYA, 1.3 MYA and 2.1 MYA.

That gives ONE interval of 800KY and ONE of 660KY.

I repeat: “Like clockwork” and “due any day” are extreme exaggerations. It might go off tomorrow, and it might be another million years.

Bob Smith has championed the plume hypothesis for many years, and it is the accepted explanation for what's going on under Yellowstone. (Dare I say "Theory?")

The fact that there's a special on the Discovery Channel tonight and Discovery.com's magazine has an article about Bob Smith's recent presentation is no small coincidence. The article is hype for the show. I intend to watch and tape it. It should be fun.

I'll be driving from PA to Yellowstone and beyond in a few weeks, and I think I have a better chance of surviving the summer in Yellowstone than the traffic on the interstates.

[Clark2008]

4. Thanks for the clarification.

I don't know much about Yellowstone Park, being a Great Smoky Mountains National Park gal myself (I live in Knoxville, TN).
But, just so you know, I did read the articles I've seen on this as "theory" only.
I realize there is no way we'll ever know for sure when, exactly, this could happen.
But, I do find the theories fascinating.

[HawkerHurricane]

5. I always say (Dad, confirm!)...

There are two warnings of impending eruption in Yellowstone.

1: Thousands of Geologists flood the park, looking for dissertion material.

2: The thousands of Geologists flee the park, looking to avoid being someone's future dissertion material.

There is no way to know 'for sure', but there will be 'signs and portents'. The least likely scenario will be the 'bolt out of the blue', a no warning eruption.