As a follow-up on the Denver Post story I wrote about here, this Online Journal article details the recent volcanic/hydro-thermal activity around Yellowstone:
Part of America's Yellowstone National Park was closed to visitors on July 23 this year and remains closed today due to high ground temperatures and increased thermal activity in the park...
Then, on August 24th, the University of Utah Seismograph Station reported that a magnitude 4.4 earthquake occurred just 9 miles southeast of the southern entrance to Yellowstone National Park. USGS scientists agreed that the earthquake was "uncommon" in that it was a very shallow earthquake, occuring just 0.3 miles below the surface...
This worrying situation was confirmed on September 8 by Dr. Bruce Cornet, a geologist and paleobotanist with the USGS, who explained: "Steam pressure is apparently building again in Yellowstone, and hydrothermal fluids and steam are working their way up through fractures and vents. If more steam vents appear, that means a continuous pathway for pressure release has been established to the magma chamber. If that happens, the pressure in the magma chamber will continue to drop until it reaches a critical stage when the superheated water within the magma explodes..."
That's only the beginning of what could happen. Read the article for a real doomsday scenario. Then relax because it's not likely to happen in our lifetime. Probably not.
I really ought to get over and visit Yellowstone Park on of these days.
Article via The Light of Reason and Ken Hagler.
Posted by Walter at September 17, 2003 08:38 AM