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-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Scientists warn we are in a "Volcano Season" and up the chance of a big or super volcano blowing by 10%
2016-01-07
Posted by:DarthVader

#10  Warthog and Darth know their Pahoehoe (very small amount of trapped gases, so very smooth) from their A'a (more gas retention, so MUCH rougher), that's for sure.

(I always remember the A'a name, if you walk on that type barefoot, you'll say "Ah..ah")

You'll say that with both though, if it hasn't cooled down yet.
Posted by: Mullah Richard   2016-01-07 22:45  

#9  Warthog is right. The magma is different. How viscus it is with how much gas is dissolved in the magma is what makes it run or explode.

Hawaiian magma is very runny with little gas dissolved so it flows with small fountains of erupting magma.

Magma in stratovolcanos (Vesuvius, Mt. St. Helens)is very thick and sticky with lots of gas dissolved in it. It moves slowly and can build plugs very easily and all the gas building up behind it makes it blow like a champagne cork when the plug fails. Mix this kind with water as well and you get the Krakatoa and Santorini (Thera) massive explosions that take islands apart. Letting off the pressure may just pop their corks since there would be so much force following the path to the surface. Much better to predict them and get the hell out of the way.
Posted by: DarthVader   2016-01-07 17:23  

#8  So there's a 10% chance we don't have to worry about the horrific impacts of man-made climate change? Izzat factored into "The Model"?
Posted by: Bobby   2016-01-07 17:08  

#7  All of the US - hell all of North Am. - could be run off of the geothermal energy available in Yellowstone. Unfortunately Interior Dept and Green Idiots would never approve of it.
Posted by: 3dc   2016-01-07 16:57  

#6  Alas RJ, the magma chemistry is fundamentally different from the stuff in Hawaii. Hawaiian volcanics flow very nicely and don't explode since there is very little in the way of trapped gas. The amount of silica involved has a lot to do with it also. Etna, Mt. St. Helens are explosive events as will be Yellowstone and Mt. Ranier. Statically speaking the last supervolcano at Yellowstone happened about 640MM years ago and they happen every 600-700 MM. The likelihood of that happening in our lifetimes is very remote. But hey, if I'm wrong, there will be no one around to call me on it
Posted by: Warthog   2016-01-07 15:46  

#5  You would think there would be a way to let off the pressure. Create a Hawaiian leaky lava volcano instead of a blow your top style volcano.
Posted by: rjschwarz   2016-01-07 14:39  

#4  Climate change does not worry me. A super volcano kind of does.
Posted by: Iblis   2016-01-07 13:34  

#3  I suspect a lot of snowflakes will melt.

Snark of the day.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2016-01-07 13:33  

#2  Of course, this is due to global warming.

And it's Bush's fault.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia    2016-01-07 13:20  

#1  Along with Yellowstone, there is a big one lying under Naples and if it goes it will kill millions of Italians almost instantly. And its caldera is bulging too. They don't yet know if it is steam or magma, but a steam eruption could still be very devastating to Naples.
Posted by: DarthVader   2016-01-07 12:55  

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