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#1 Yellowstones Caldera Filled Super-Volcano Predicted to Sweep Two-Thirds of the U.S.
02-07-2011, 11:03 AM
- Join Date
- Aug 2005
The gigantic super-volcano beneath Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming has been rising at a record rate since 2004........ Recently, a group of scientists are predicting that the world’s largest volcano in Yellowstone National Park could erupt in the near future.....Robert B. Smith, professor of geophysics at the University of Utah, who has led a recent study into the volcano, added: ‘Our best evidence is that the crustal magma chamber is filling with molten rock.
The caldera of Yellowstone National Park has erupted three times in the last 2.1 million years. The experts who are monitoring it say we could have another eruption.They said that the super-volcano’s floor has gone up three inches each year for the last three years alone, the fastest rate since records started in 1923.
Its explosion will surpass the power of Mount St. Helens eruption in 1980. Spewing lava far into the sky, a cloud of plant-killing ash would fan out and dump a layer 10ft deep up to 1,000 miles away.The researchers added, two-thirds of the U.S. could be devastated as toxic air sweeps through it, grounding thousands of flights and forcing millions to run from their houses.But they cannot put a date on when the next disaster might occur because of the lack of data.
When the eruption eventually takes place it will dwarf the effect of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano, which erupted in April 2010, causing travel chaos around the world.The University of Utah’s Bob Smith, an expert in Yellowstone’s volcanism told National Geographic: ‘It’s an extraordinary uplift, because it covers such a large area and the rates are so high.‘At the beginning we were concerned it could be leading up to an eruption.’
02-07-2011, 11:12 AM
- Join Date
- Aug 2005
All Large Earthquakes in the continental United States (excludes Alaska and Hawaii) map of the largest earthquakes in the United States
Location Date Time
(Year - month - day - time) Magnitude
(Richter scale) Damage
1. Cascadia subduction zone 1700 01 26 UTC ˜9
2. New Madrid, Missouri 1811 12 16 08:15 UTC 8.1 Isoseismal map available
3. New Madrid, Missouri 1812 02 07 09:45 UTC ˜8
4. Fort Tejon, California 1857 01 09 16:24 UTC 7.9 Isoseismal map available
5. San Francisco, California 1906 04 18 13:12 UTC 7.8 Damage photos available Isoseismal map available
6. Imperial Valley, California 1892 02 24 07:20 UTC 7.8
7. New Madrid, Missouri 1812 01 23 15:00 UTC 7.8
8. Owens Valley, California 1872 03 26 10:30 UTC 7.4 Isoseismal map available
9. Landers, California 1992 06 28 11:57 UTC 7.3
10. Hebgen Lake, Montana 1959 08 18 06:37 UTC 7.3 Damage photos available Isoseismal map available
11. Kern County, California 1952 07 21 11:52 UTC 7.3 Isoseismal map available
12. West of Eureka, California 1922 01 31 13:17 UTC 7.3
13. Charleston, South Carolina 1886 09 01 02:51 UTC 7.3
14. California - Oregon Coast 1873 11 23 05:00 UTC 7.3
15. N Cascades, Washington 1872 12 15 05:40 UTC 7.3
Note: Widely differing magnitudes have been computed for some of these earthquakes; the values differ according to the methods and data used. For example, some sources list the magnitude of the 8.7 Rat Islands earthquake as low as 7.7. On the other hand, some sources list the magnitude of the February 7, 1812 New Madrid quake as high as 8.8. Similar variations exist for most events on this list, although generally not so large as for the examples given.
In general, the magnitudes given in the list above have been determined from the seismic moment, when available. For very large earthquakes, the moment magnitude is considered to be a more accurate determination than the traditional amplitude magnitude computation procedures. Note that all of these values can be called "magnitudes on the Richter scale," regardless of the method used to compute them.
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