Martian Supervolcanoes

(From NASA/MOLA, via BBC News, used w/o permission.)
"Eden Patera is the best example. The irregular-shaped caldera formed when the ground collapsed into the void. The colours here represent elevation in the surrounding terrain. Red is high; blue is low"

"Supervolcanoes ripped up early Mars"
Jonathan Amos, BBC News (October 2, 2013)

"Mars may have had giant explosive volcanoes in its ancient past that spewed billions upon billions of tonnes of rock and ash into the sky.

"Vast areas of collapsed ground in a region of the planet called Arabia Terra are their likely remains, believe Joe Michalski and Jacob Bleacher....

Scientists kept finding evidence that really big volcanoes erupted when Mars was young, but hadn't found enough to account for all the ancient ash.

Apparently they were looking for the wrong kind of volcano.

Yellowstone Caldera and Mars

(From NASA/JPL/MSSS, via BBC News, used w/o permission.)
"An impact crater (L) is usually circular and surrounded by an apron of ejected material. The collapsed calderas of supervolcanoes (R) look very different, with volcanic features such as terracing and pinched rims"

"...They [Michalski and Bleacher] say such supervolcanoes would have had a profound impact on the early evolution of Mars.

"Their gases would have influenced the make-up of the atmosphere and perturbed the climate. And the ashfall would have covered the landscape across great swathes of the planet. It is quite likely some of the deposits the rovers are now encountering on Mars have their origin in colossal blasts...."
(Jonathan Amos, BBC News)

"Supervolcano" is an unofficial name for volcanoes that blow 1,000 cubic kilometers or more of rock into the air.

One of Earth's better-known supervolcanoes is the one that's powering Yellowstone Park's hot springs and geysers. That one probably has one more eruption coming. Not to worry, though. If the Yellowstone caldera's past eruptions are a guide, humanity probably has another 60,000 years to get ready: more or less.

The Yellowstone caldera doesn't look like a volcano, and neither do the Martian supervolcanoes. Olympus Mons was easy to spot: it's a huge mound with craters on top. What Michalski and Bleacher found look a little like irregular impact craters.

Part of what's different about the possible supervolcanoes on Mars is that, unlike craters left by impacts, they're deep.

If Michalski and Bleacher are right, scientists have part of the explanation for how parts of Mars got covered with so much ash. Understanding how Mars got to be the way it is should help settlers, when humanity gets around to moving outward, and that's another topic.

Related posts:

• "Martian Hood Ornament? Water Faucet? Or Something Entirely Different?"
  (February 15, 2013)
• "Gale Crater, Mars: Like a Hawaiian Beach; Only Drier, Colder, - - -"
  (November 2, 2012)
• "Shifty Surface on Mars?"
  (January 5, 2011)
• "Next Major Taupo Eruption Due - 800 Years Ago?!"
  (July 18, 2010)
• "Volcanoes, a Governor, Science, and the Next Yellowstone Caldera Blowout"
  (February 25, 2009)

Ecological Disaster - a Quarter of a Billion Years Ago

"Massive Volcanism May Have Caused Biggest Extinction Ever"
Alexandra Witze, Science News, via Wired Science, Wired (December 14, 2010)



"The greatest extinction in the history of life may have been caused, in part, by ozone-depleting gases spewed in a massive volcanic eruption, a new study suggests. Geologists have found surprisingly high amounts of the elements fluorine and chlorine in Siberian lavas dating back 250 million years — when about 90 percent of marine species and 70 percent of terrestrial species went extinct.

"Benjamin Black, a graduate student at MIT, and his colleagues described their theory Dec. 13 in a poster presentation at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union.

"Researchers have long struggled to explain the 'Great Dying' that occurred at the end of the Permian period. Some think that the extinction was a long, drawn-out affair caused by multiple factors - perhaps gradual changes in oceanic or atmospheric chemistry (SN: 5/28/05, p. 339). Others have blamed a single catastrophic event such as a belch of methane from the seafloor or an asteroid impact (SN: 2/24/01, p. 116) like the one thought to have wiped out the dinosaurs and other species 65 million years ago.

"Volcanoes might be one of those calamities. In Siberia, around 250 million years ago, a series of massive volcanic eruptions spewed out lava over more than 2 million square kilometers [800,000 square miles]. Some scientists have blamed these eruptions, known as the Siberian Traps, for climatic changes that contributed to the extinction...."

Between routine events like eruptions that created the Siberian and Deccan Traps, the Yellowstone caldera's periodic blowup, and intermittent falling asteroids, this planet isn't a particularly safe place to live.

The Siberian Traps are interesting, according to this article, because there's significantly more sulfur, chlorine and fluorine in those rocks than in the Deccan Traps.

"...The chemicals probably weren't in the magma as it began traveling up from deep within the Earth, the team proposed, but melted into the magma as it passed through salt-rich rock before erupting on the surface.

"In all, the amount of chemicals in the Siberian rocks could translate to 9 trillion tons of sulfur, 8.5 trillion tons of fluorine and 5 trillion tons of chlorine spewing into the atmosphere during the eruptions. Such elements, when pumped out by power plants, can cause acid rain locally...."

That's trillions of tons: a whole lot of very reactive chemicals. Whatever else was going on at the time, that stuff in the atmosphere wasn't making conditions any better.

Although, if this hadn't happened, the Lemming wouldn't be writing this post - and you wouldn't be reading it.

Related posts:

• "Ecological Disaster - a Third of a Billion Years Ago"
  (September 30, 2010)
• "Asteroid Crater Under the Timor Sea: It Could Happen Again"
  (June 3, 2010)
• "Dinosaurs, Runaway Volcanism, Change, and Evolution"
  (March 24, 2010)
• "Frail, Delicate Little Mother Nature?!"
  (December 20, 2009)
• "Laacher See Supervolcano Eruption: You Think You Had a Bad Day?!"
  (September 26, 2009)

More:

• "Change, American Culture, Trilobites, Humanity's History, and the Big Picture "

Next Major Taupo Eruption Due - 800 Years Ago?!

"Taupo volcano would dwarf Iceland eruption"
ONE News, via tvnz.co.nz (July 12, 2010)

"Beneath the waters of Lake Taupo lies one of the world's biggest volcanoes and scientists say an eruption would be one of the most life threatening events New Zealand has ever faced.

"They say an eruption involving New Zealand's largest lake would dwarf the trouble caused by the 1995 Ruapehu eruption and lahar flows since then.

" 'Taupo on a global scale is a very large volcano. The crater is somewhere in the order of 15 and 20 kilometres in diameter, so it's right up there in the top ten globally for size,' said volcanologist Brad Scott...."

Happily, volcanoes tend to raise a fuss before major eruptions. These days, in many countries, folks in decision-making positions have learned what it could mean, when there's a whacking great volcano nearby that's taken to muttering to itself.

The article says that folks in the Taupo area shouldn't wait for instructions to move. New Zealand Civil defense's Phil Parker said that, since the country isn't all that prepared to deal with an eruption - " 'People may need to self evacuate because we don't have the personnel to evacuate everybody. We rely heavily on people doing it themselves,' " which I think would make sense, anyway.

Think about it: You're near a volcano. The ground's shaking. You know it's due to erupt any time. Would you wait until some official made an announcement that it's time to go?

How long folks who live, work, and play near Taupo have until the next big eruption? Here's how the article ends:

"...Taupo erupts every 900 years on average, and the last big bang was 1700 years ago. Scientists say it's not a matter of if, but when."

Sort-of-related posts:

• "How do You Pronounce "Eyjafjallajökull," or "Eyjafjallajokull:" You Know, Iceland's Volcano?"
  (April 24, 2010)
• "Mound Redoubt Oil Storage Tanks Drained: Good Idea"
  (April 4, 2009)

1783, Iceland: Biggest Lava Flow in History

"June 22, 1783: Icelandic Volcano Disrupts Europe's Economy"
Wired (June 21, 2010)

"1783: Ash from the Laki volcano in Iceland arrives in Britain and northern France. It will linger for months, creating a hot summer, a very cold winter and thousands of deaths.

"Laki began erupting June 8. It produced the largest lava flow in historic times when a fissure 16 miles long sent a flow of pahoehoe (fast-moving, smooth or ropy lava) more than 40 miles, The 2.9 cubic miles of lava covered 218 square miles.

"Fluorine gas fell to the land as hydrofluoric acid in Iceland, dissolving the flesh off livestock. Fully half the horses and cattle, as well as three-quarters of the sheep died. Famine set in, the social order broke down and looting was rampant. Eventually, a quarter of Iceland's people died of starvation...."

Folks in Europe didn't have a particularly good time, either. Sulfur dioxide and heat, direct and indirect consequences of the eruption, killed "scores of thousands of deaths," as the article put it.

After the unusually hot summer, came a freakishly cold winter. The Mississippi River froze around New Orleans, Siberia and Alaska had the worst winters they'd experienced in about five centuries.

Compared to the Laki eruption's effects, well: Maybe airline delays aren't quite such a bit deal, after all.

Iceland, Volcano, Ash, Airline Cancellations: Here We Go Again

"Volcanic ash forces Heathrow, Gatwick to close Monday"
CNN (May 16, 2010)

"London's two major airports were preparing to close late Sunday as a cloud of ash from a volcano in Iceland moved east into England, British air authorities said.

"All flights into and out of Heathrow and Gatwick airports have been canceled for a six-hour period beginning early Monday, airport officials said.

"The affected flights are those scheduled between 1 a.m. (8 p.m. Sunday ET) and 7 a.m. (2 a.m. ET).

"The Monday cancellations were the latest in a round of weekend closures of airports in England and Ireland.

"Birmingham, Norwich Manchester and Liverpool airports were closed on Sunday evening, controllers announced...."


(from CNN, used w/o permission)

Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull, or Eyjafjallajokull, volcano could keep disrupting air travel around the northeastern Atlantic for quite a while:

"...There's no way to know how long the volcano will continue spewing ash into the air, Georgia Tech scientist Josef Dufek told CNN.

" 'It could go on another year,' he said, noting that an eruption lasted that long in 1820...."

Try two years?

"...'The UK's Met Office said Eyjafjallajökull was now releasing ash in 'pulses' rather than a steady plume, but scientists say it is too early to predict how long the eruption would last. The volcano's last major eruption in 1821 lasted for two years....'..."
(Excerpt from CNN in "Eyjafjallajökull Eruption: Two Years, Last Time" (April 17, 2010))

Either way: that's a long time to work airline schedules around ash clouds.

In a way, news about Iceland's volcano is a refreshing change of pace. So far, I haven't read about serious thinkers who feel that the volcano is Big [something]'s fault.

Related posts:

• "Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull, or Eyjafjallajokull, Volcano: Still Erupting & Disrupting"
  (May 10, 2010)
• "How do You Pronounce "Eyjafjallajökull," or "Eyjafjallajokull:" You Know, Iceland's Volcano?"
  (April 24, 2010)
• ""Eyjafjallajökull" or "Eyjafjallajokull:" Either Way, Iceland's Volcano is Making (Seismic) Waves"
  (April 23, 2010)
• "Eyjafjallajökull Eruption: Two Years, Last Time"
  (April 17, 2010)
• "Iceland Volcano Video Footage"
  (April 16, 2010)

Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull, or Eyjafjallajokull, Volcano: Still Erupting & Disrupting

"Spain airports re-open as ash cloud moves on"
Reuters (May 9, 2010)

"Several Spanish airports in northern Spain including Barcelona reopened on Sunday after they were shut on Saturday as a precaution against an abrasive ash cloud from a volcano in Iceland.

"The civil aviation authority said only three airports remained closed, all in the north-western region of Galicia, and that these might open from about 0900 GMT. They were Santiago, La Coruna and Vigo.

"Saturday's closure of 19 airports disrupted travel plans for nearly 40,000 passengers and forced the government to lay on extra transport...."

And, quite likely, messed up (or 'disrupted,' as they'd probably say on the news) flights for much of Europe. It doesn't matter if the air is clear where you're taking off, if the destination is unreachable.

Looks like there'll be more of the same, at least in the short run:

"Warning Of More Ash Cloud Chaos This Week"
Sky News (UK) (May 9, 2010)

"The volcanic ash cloud looks set to cause further travel disruption in the coming days after more than 500 flights were cancelled across Europe over the weekend.

"The latest aerial shutdown saw airports in Ireland, southern France, Switzerland, Italy and Germany closed because of the ash from Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano...."

Related posts:

• "How do You Pronounce "Eyjafjallajökull," or "Eyjafjallajokull:" You Know, Iceland's Volcano?"
  (April 24, 2010)
• ""Eyjafjallajökull" or "Eyjafjallajokull:" Either Way, Iceland's Volcano is Making (Seismic) Waves"
  (April 23, 2010)
• "Eyjafjallajökull Eruption: Two Years, Last Time"
  (April 17, 2010)
• "Iceland Volcano Video Footage"
  (April 16, 2010)

News Flash: Earth is Not Like a Cadbury Egg

"Is the Earth's core solid?"
Earth News, Discovery News (April 26, 2010)

"Even if you breezed through a few geology classes in your day, it's easy to think of the Earth's interior like a Cadbury Egg: solid on the outside and molten in the center. Yet we've known for more than 60 years that the very center of the Earth is actually solid.

"Danish seismologist Inge Lehmann made the discovery in 1936 when she noticed seismic waves bouncing off a boundary point deep within what was believed to be a liquid center. With her finding, the world learned that Earth's core is solid at the center and liquid on the outside...."

Okay. I get it. Earth isn't like a Cadbury Creme Egg.

It's an interesting article, though: with a bit of 'what we're pretty sure about so far - and few things we're not so sure about.'

By the way, there's another major environmental crisis. Earth's core is cooling, and won't generate a magnetic field when it freezes.

A few billion years from now.

I shouldn't joke. There may be a PAC soon, advocating sanctions against Iceland for wasting Earth's precious heat. ("How do You Pronounce "Eyjafjallajökull," or "Eyjafjallajokull:" You Know, Iceland's Volcano?" (April 24, 2010)), and all that)

How do You Pronounce "Eyjafjallajökull," or "Eyjafjallajokull:" You Know, Iceland's Volcano?

The Lemming thought this might be worth repeating from last Saturday:

Eyja- - - How do You Pronounce That?

"...NPR librarian Kee Malesky checked with Iceland's embassy in Washington and came away with this: 'AY-yah-fyah-lah-YOH-kuul.'..."
(NPR)

Works for me. That's a sound approach, by the way: taking a question to someone who's likely to know the answer.
(April 17, 2010)

Related posts:

• " 'Eyjafjallajökull' or 'Eyjafjallajokull:' Either Way, Iceland's Volcano is Making (Seismic) Waves"
  (April 23, 2010)
• "Eyjafjallajökull Eruption: Two Years, Last Time"
  (April 17, 2010)
• "Iceland Volcano Video Footage"
  (April 16, 2010)

"Eyjafjallajökull" or "Eyjafjallajokull:" Either Way, Iceland's Volcano is Making (Seismic) Waves

I say "Eyjafjallajökull," you say "Eyjafjallajokull:" Either way it's a pretty big eruption. This post is a sort of scrapbook of what's happened recently.

I've noticed that American-English news often turns Eyjafjallajökull into Eyjafjallajokull. My guess is that it's a whole lot easier for folks at the keyboards. Icelandic and English both use a Latin-based alphabet, but we've made regional modifications in the fifteen centuries since imperial Rome went out of business.

Then, some headlines avoid the name entirely:

"European Airlines Press to Get Everyone Home "

AssociatedPress, YouTube (April 22, 2010)
video, 1:22

"European airports sent thousands of planes into the sky Thursday after a week of unprecedented disruptions, with airlines piling on more flights and bigger planes to try to get as many people home as possible. (April 22)"

Need something to worry about? Try this on for size:

"Scientists warn Eyjafjallajokull could trigger the Katla volcano to erupt"
Helium (April 21, 2010)

"While the after effects of the volcano Eyjafjallajokull are slowly beginning to dissipate, scientists warn that there may be more to come in the near future. The concern is not centered around Eyjafjallajokull erupting again now or in the near future, the new concern surrounds Katla volcano. While some consider this concern unwarranted or alarmist, history often has a way of repeating itself, and Eyjafjallajokull and Katla have plenty history...."

Good news: with less ash coming out, European air traffic is getting sorted out.

Not-so-good news: This isn't over yet.

"Iceland Volcano Tremors Stay Strong, Ash Plume Low
ABC News (April 22, 2010)

"Iceland's volcanic eruption was still causing strong tremors on Thursday, though far less ash and smoke was pouring out into the air.

"Huge ash clouds spewed from the volcano last week and led to European air traffic being grounded for days. The smoke and fumes coming from the volcano have much less ash now and the plume has stayed at low levels.

"However, the tremors coming from it are stronger now than when the ash plume was at its highest, at about 9 km (5.6 miles), said meteorological office geophysicist Steinunn Jakobsdottir.

" 'We don't know exactly what this is telling us. This is kind of telling me that it is not stopping yet ... As it looks now it could go on for a while,' she told a news conference...."

Bad news, for Iceland:

"Iceland closes airports for first time due to volcanic ash cloud "
CNN (April 22, 2010)

"Iceland will close two airports on Friday for the first time, a week after ash from an Icelandic volcano forced the shutdown of airspace over much of Europe and stranded thousands of passengers around the world, the Icelandic aviation authority announced Thursday.

"The Keflavik International Airport and Reykjavík International Airport will be closed beginning early Friday morning, the aviation authority said, according to a statement on the Keflavik airport's website.

"Though the ash cloud originated in Iceland, the country's airports have been spared from closure until now. Strong northwest winds had been blowing ash from the volcano, in the south of Iceland, out to sea and over Europe.

" 'Now the winds have died down, and the cloud is lingering around Iceland,' said Chris Almond, a forecaster with Britain's Met Office, the nation's national weather service...."

Really good news: The news is about airline schedules and people fussing about having travel plans being disrupted. We could be reading about cities being abandoned. The Eyjafjallajökull is a pretty big deal: but it's a damp firecracker, compared to some blowouts Earth's had.

Related posts:

• "Eyjafjallajökull Eruption: Two Years, Last Time"
  (April 17, 2010)
• "Iceland Volcano Video Footage"
  (April 16, 2010)

Eyjafjallajökull Eruption: Two Years, Last Time

"Experts: No end to volcano ash in sight"
CNN (April 16, 2010)

"Weather experts predicted Friday that a volcanic ash causing chaos to air traffic across Europe would affect the region well into the weekend and possibly beyond as the dust cloud continued to spread.

"Scientists said it was too soon to predict when the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland would cease spewing ash, raising the prospect of thousands more grounded flights in coming days...."

"...He said if the volcano in Iceland volcano continues to spew ash at the same rate, disruption would continue. If the ash ejections lessen combined with weakening winds, conditions could improve through the weekend

"The UK's Met Office said Eyjafjallajökull was now releasing ash in 'pulses' rather than a steady plume, but scientists say it is too early to predict how long the eruption would last. The volcano's last major eruption in 1821 lasted for two years...."

I'm glad I'm not one of the folks whose travel plans were upset by the Eyjafjallajökull eruption.

Eyja- - - How do You Pronounce That?

"...NPR librarian Kee Malesky checked with Iceland's embassy in Washington and came away with this: 'AY-yah-fyah-lah-YOH-kuul.'..."
(NPR)

Works for me. That's a sound approach, by the way: taking a question to someone who's likely to know the answer.

Volcanoes, Ash, Inconvenience and the End of the World

Somebody's probably working on the next best-selling 'and we're all gonna die because - - -' book that includes the Eyjafjallajökull eruption, the earthquakes in China, Chile and Haiti, and maybe something about Nostradamus and the stock market.

Although I'm pretty sure that folks in Europe are in for some unpleasantness, I really don't think that we're looking at 'the end of the world,' or even 'the end of civilization as we know it.'

Or, looking at things another way, we are looking at 'the end of civilization as we know it,' and have been all my life. I remember the fifties. The sixties were different. Then came the seventies: and Western civilization survived Disco.

The point is: change happens. 'Civilization as we know it' keeps changing: so yes, what we're used to right now will be gone in a few days. At the rate things have been changing recently, a year from now we'll have seen quite noticeable changes. Ten years from now, Intel's neural interface may start hitting the market.

Yeah, change happens.

The Eyjafjallajökull Eruption: In Perspective

We live on a planet where it's not, on a geologic time scale, all that unusual for a volcano to blast a hole in a glacier and scatter ash over a non-trivial fraction of the globe. The glacier is a little special, actually: We're either in, or coming out of, one of Earth's periods of continental glaciation. Earth's had about seven of those, so far. (March 24, 2010)

The Eyjafjallajökull eruption, though, is a rather modest affair: compared to events like the periodic Yellowstone caldera blowout. Then there were the eruption(s) that left the Deccan Traps.

I think it's a good idea for folks to think about how to deal with volcanic ash in the water supply. But I'm not exactly overwrought about the perilous plight of delicate little 'Mother Nature.' She's a tough old mother.

Related posts:

• "Iceland Volcano Video Footage"
  (April 16, 2010)
• "Dinosaurs, Runaway Volcanism, Change, and Evolution"
  (March 24, 2010)
• "Big Crack in Ethiopia: New Ocean in the Making"
  (November 3, 2009)
• "Laacher See Supervolcano Eruption: You Think You Had a Bad Day?!"
  (September 26, 2009)
• "Mount Redoubt: Thar She Blows! (Eruptions Started Last Sunday)"
  (March 24, 2009)
• "Volcanoes, a Governor, Science, and the Next Yellowstone Caldera Blowout"
  (February 25, 2009)

In the news:

• "UPDATE 2-Europe energy production evades ash cloud impact"
  Reuters UK (April 16, 2010)
• "Iceland Volcano Ash Plume Prompts Health Worries "
  National Geographic (April 16, 2010)

Iceland Volcano Video Footage

"Footage released of erupting Icelandic volcano"

itnnews, YouTube (April 15, 2010)
video, 1:35

"Footage has been released of an erupting volcano in Iceland which is affecting flights in and out of the UK, as clouds of ash spread..."

Apart from a brief bit of percussion & a chord at the start, the video's silent. And pretty close to 'raw footage,' I'd guess.

There's a sort of beauty, I think, to these views of an active volcano in Iceland. And it's an impressive display of power.

I'm glad I'm not planning to travel by air over Europe.

"Iceland's volcanic ash halts flights across Europe"
The Associated Press (April 16, 2010)

"An enormous ash cloud from a remote Icelandic volcano caused the biggest flight disruption since the 2001 terrorist attacks as it drifted over northern Europe and stranded travelers on six continents. Officials said it could take days for the skies to become safe again in one of aviation's most congested areas.

"The cloud, floating miles (kilometers) above Earth and capable of knocking out jet engines, wrecked travel plans for tens of thousands of people Thursday, from tourists and business travelers to politicians and royals. They couldn't see the source of their frustration - except indirectly, when the ash created vivid red and lavender sunsets.

"Non-emergency flights in Britain were canceled, and most will stay grounded until at least midday Friday.

"Authorities in Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Belgium also closed their air space. France shut down 24 airports, including the main hub of Charles de Gaulle in Paris, Germany's Berlin and Hamburg were shut Thursday evening, and several flights out of the U.S. had to double back...."

Related posts:

• "Big Crack in Ethiopia: New Ocean in the Making"
  (November 3, 2009)
• "Laacher See Supervolcano Eruption: You Think You Had a Bad Day?!"
  (September 26, 2009)
• "Mount Redoubt: Thar She Blows! (Eruptions Started Last Sunday)"
  (March 24, 2009)
• "Volcanoes, a Governor, Science, and the Next Yellowstone Caldera Blowout"
  (February 25, 2009)

In the news:

• "Britain extends flight shutdown until late Friday"
  Reuters India (April 16, 2010)
• "Irish airspace restrictions lifted"
  RTÉ (April 16, 2010)

Laacher See Supervolcano Eruption: You Think You Had a Bad Day?!

"Supervolcano Eruption Was Tough on Teeth"
Discovery News (September 25, 2009)

"If you've ever eaten a sandy batch of shellfish, you know the feeling: the terrible crunching and grinding that cracks through your jaw, making you question the wisdom of your choice of food. Now imagine that feeling with every bite you take, every meal of every day.

"If a new study is right, that's what early humans and animals felt after the Laacher See supervolcano exploded in central Europe 13,000 years ago, and it drove them out of the region.

"Laacher See was a tremendous blast. It devastated 540 square miles of forested land right around the crater and conservative estimates suggest an area the size of Minnesota was covered in a blanket of ash and rock bits...."

That's where the sandy shellfish comparison comes in.

All that grit on the plants, animals, and everything else, would have not only have reduced the pleasure of eating - it would wear down teeth. Fast.

Bad news for grazing animals, and anything that ate them - including people who lived in what we've been calling Germany, the Netherlands and southern Sweden recently.

The human population dropped like a rock: and survivors apparently stopped using bows and arrows.

About 300 years later, the grit had probably been washed away - but who can wait that long?

More, at:

• "WIDE ANGLE: The Supereruptions"
  Discovery Earth

List of vaguely related posts:

• "Change, American Culture, Trilobites, Humanity's History, and the Big Picture"
  (September 26, 2009)

Volcanoes in Hawaii, Alaska: Science and Tourism

"Hawaii Volcano Glows"
LiveScience (June 7, 2009)

"Lava is thought to be close to the surface of the summit of Hawaii's Kilauea volcano, suggesting a modest eruption might occur. But geologists don't really know if it will erupt, or if lava might simply flow from the summit, or neither.

"In past events, the volcano's lava has sometimes travelled 6 miles (10 kilometers) from the crater to the sea. The flows, at 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit, occasionally explode when they contact the cool ocean waters...."

The glow-in-the-dark volcano got a more extensive writeup in The Associated Press:

"Scientists eye glowing volcano crater in Hawaii"
The Associated Press (June 6, 2009)

That photo, from the LiveScience article, shows that there are places that have more trouble with road maintenance than Minnesota.

---

LiveScience also has a somewhat more detailed article about the use of a Lightning Mapping Array at Alaska's Mount Redoubt volcano:

"Dramatic Image Shows Volcano's Lightning"
LiveScience (April 8, 2009)

Earth Day 2009: Don't Stop Breathing to Save Earth

Today's news has quite a few articles about how America's president is saving the Earth.

I realize that there have to be rules about what we do with trash. Decades ago, I read that paleontologists and archeologists use trash heaps and garbage dumps to learn about how people live: and that just about everybody has had a place where junk is put. So, environmental regulations of some kind are thousands of years old.

I remember the first Earth Day, back in 1970. A green flag flew over the campus, and there was a groovy vibe to saving Earth from The Man.

I didn't change my lifestyle all that much, though. My parents had grown up in the Great Depression, so recycling and avoiding waste were habits I wasn't even aware I had: until I saw how much my contemporaries threw away.

Earth's a Tough Old Mother

"Mother Nature" has been portrayed many ways. One of my favorites is the version played by Dena Dietrich in the 1970s Chiffon margarine commercials: "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature."

I get the impression that some of the more enthusiastic environmentalists see her as a sort of ancient 1920s flapper: all big eyes and scrawny legs. A helpless damsel who needs constant rescuing.

If life on Earth were like that frail waif, we wouldn't be here now.

Our Debatably Dependable Sun

Earth circles a slightly variable star. The most obvious change over time is the sunspot cycle that affects the auroras and the ionosphere, and makes life interesting for people who maintain radio communications.

We still, as far as I know, don't know why the Maunder Minimum happened - so it's possible that there's still more to learn about the sun and its cycles.

Occasional Ice Ages

For whatever reason, Earth goes through ice ages at not-exactly-regular intervals. Six of them were big ones. We may be in the 6th now: It was a 'known fact' that we were headed for another glacial period when I was growing up, but fashions have changed.

Whatever point we're at in Earth's big freezes now, it's not as bad as the cold period that started around 800,000,000 years ago. Glaciers got to within 15 degrees of Earth's equator that time.

Asteroid Impacts Now and Again

Then there are the occasional asteroid and comet hits: the last big one may have wiped out the dinosaurs and made room for us.

And Yet, Life is Still Here

From my point of view, Mother Nature seems to have more in common with Queen Boudicca than a 1920s flapper: all big eyes and narrow legs, like Clara Bow. This isn't a value judgement: Clara Bow had a successful film career. On the other hand, Queen Boudicca left a deep impression on the Romans of her day. Figuratively and literally.

I'm Not Worried About Earth and Nature: But I Live Sensibly

I don't have quite the faith in Man And His Technology that many people do. The idea that "now we are in control of the forces of nature" wears a little thin when set up against something like the Mt. St. Hellens eruption. And that was a hiccup compared to Earth's more noticeable volcanic events: like the last eruption of the Yellowstone caldera, that covered about 2/3 of today's 48 contiguous states with ash. Then there was the Mount Toba event that may have come close to wiping out humanity.

I think that getting lead out of gasoline is a good idea, and that it makes good sense on several levels to buy what you need, and recognize everything beyond that as luxury. My household uses water and power in moderation - for financial reasons if nothing else - and we recycle.

But that doesn't mean that I'm going to go crazy over whatever today's intellectual fashion dictates.

Related posts

• "Ancient Antarctic Ecosystem: Isolated for Millions of Years"
  (April 16, 2009)
• "Life is Left-Handed on Earth (Caution: Geeky Content)"
  (March 23, 2009)
• "The Purple Hills of Earth?"
  (September 6, 2008)
• "How to Destroy Earth (It Ain't Gonna be Easy)"
  (July 9, 2008)
• "Old Articles About Old Stuff: History of Earth's Continents"
  (May 18, 2008)
• "The Sun as a Swinger? Cardiff U's Title is Better for Mass Extinction Article"
  (May 12, 2008)
• "Sunspots? What Sunspots?"
  (April 25, 2008)
• "And Now, for Something Completely Different: The Medieval Climatic Optimum, The Little Ice Age, and Other Changes"
  (April 20, 2008)
• " 'My Mind's Made Up: Don't Confuse Me With the Facts' "
  (March 3, 2008)
• "Climates in the Inner Solar System"
  (February 28, 2008)
• ""Journey of Mankind:" 160,000 Years of Ups and Downs"
  (November 1, 2007)
• "A Blogging Blog for Bloggers"
  (September 13, 2007)

More at

• "Glacier"
  Encyclopedia of Earth
• "Fossile Mysteries"
  San Diego Natural History Museum
  • Timeline of Earth's most recent 2,500,000,000,years

Mound Redoubt Oil Storage Tanks Drained: Good Idea

"Coast Guard to move oil from near Alaska volcano"
The Associated Press (April 3, 2009)

"ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard is planning to move some of the millions of gallons of oil stored in two tanks near an Alaska volcano that has had 18 major eruptions in the last two weeks but has been relatively quiet in recent days.

"Mount Redoubt began erupting on March 22. Since then, the volcano 100 miles southwest of Anchorage has produced numerous large explosions that have sent mud and rock cascading down its flanks. Some of that mud and debris has reached the Drift River Terminal, 22 miles away.

"That has led to concerns that the terminal, where more than 6 million gallons of oil is stored in two tanks, could be damaged and cause a catastrophic oil spill that would damage Cook Inlet's valuable fisheries...."

Those 22 miles must have seemed like a great distance, when the Drift River Terminal was built. Of course, Mount Redoubt wasn't erupting then. The fact is, people don't, generally, plan years, decades, or centuries ahead when building things.

Take Tacoma, Washington, for example: It's only about twice as far away from Mount Rainier as the Drift River Terminal is from Mount Redoubt. Mount Rainier hasn't erupted since 1882: and probably won't this year, or the next. On the other hand, an eruption at the wrong time of year could be rather unpleasant. A whole lot of snow can accumulate on the slopes - you get the idea.

Drift River Terminal: DRFA2 and Related Facilities

View Larger Map

Mount Rainier and Tacoma, Washington

View Larger Map

More:

• Alaska Volcano Observatory
  "Live webcam images of various Alaskan volcanoes"
• "Mount Rainier, Washington "
  USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory

Meanwhile, in Alaska, Mount Redoubt is Still Erupting

"Alaska volcano erupts 4 times on Friday"
CNN (March 28, 2009)

"(CNN) -- Mount Redoubt volcano in southern Alaska erupted four times on Friday, shooting ash as high as 51,000 feet, scientists said.

"The latest eruption took place at 8:30 p.m. (12:30 a.m. Saturday ET), according to the National Weather Service. That eruption followed three other ones earlier Friday.

"The eruptions are the latest in a series that began Sunday.

"The Alaska Volcano Observatory said the alert level remains at its highest possible designation -- red -- indicating that an eruption is under way or imminent and that the eruption will produce a 'significant emission of volcanic ash into the atmosphere.'..."

Alaska Airlines wasn't flying into or out of Anchorage on Thursday, but had a few flights yesterday.

I hadn't been paying that much attention to Mount Redoubt this week, what with the flood down in the Red River Valley of the North. I suppose it may have something to do with my having grown up in Fargo-Moorhead, and living about 125 miles away. Alaska: that's a bit farther off.


Related posts:

Mount Redoubt: It Was Only a Small Exploseion"
(March 25, 2009)
• "Mount Redoubt Webcams: Watching Eruptions on the Web"
  (March 24, 2009)
• "Mount Redoubt: Thar She Blows! (Eruptions Started Last Sunday)"
  (March 24, 2009)
• "Volcanoes, a Governor, Science, and the Next Yellowstone Caldera Blowout"
  (February 25, 2009)
• "Mount Redoubt Steaming, Anchorage Waiting, Webcams Watching"
  (February 1, 2009)

Mount Redoubt: It Was Only a Small Explosion

"7th Mount Redoubt explosion is small one"
United Press International (March 25, 2009)

"ANCHORAGE, Alaska, March 25 (UPI) -- A small explosion at Mount Redoubt in Alaska early Wednesday sent up an ash cloud 15,000 feet that dissipated over the volcano, scientists say...."

I can't help remembering a line from some movie, where an accident-prone undergrad said something like "it was only a small fire."

Related posts:

• "Mount Redoubt Webcams: Watching Eruptions on the Web"
  (March 24, 2009)
• "Mount Redoubt: Thar She Blows! (Eruptions Started Last Sunday)"
  (March 24, 2009)
• "Volcanoes, a Governor, Science, and the Next Yellowstone Caldera Blowout"
  (February 25, 2009)
• "Mount Redoubt Steaming, Anchorage Waiting, Webcams Watching"
  (February 1, 2009)

Mount Redoubt Webcams: Watching Eruptions on the Web

This is an excerpt from an earlier post.

Mount Redoubt, in Alaska, began erupting last Sunday (March 22, 2009). People in Anchorage, Alaska, about a hundred miles away, are uncomfortably up close and personal with the eruptions.

The rest of us can watch, through several webcams:

"Live webcam images of various Alaskan volcanoes"
Alaska Volcano Observatory
Including two for Mount Redoubt:

• Hut
  "This camera provides a view of the north flank of Redoubt."
• CI
  "The camera is located on Unocal Platform Anna, approximately 38 miles SE of Mt. Spurr, it was originally pointed at Mt. Spurr."

The Alaska Volcano Observatory looks like a pretty good resource for information about Alaska's volcanoes.

And, on Mount Redoubt: "Redoubt Activity"

Mount Redoubt is roughly a hundred miles away from Anchorage, near the east edge of the Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, west of that long island across Cook Inlet from Clam Gultch.


View Larger Map

Mount Redoubt: Thar She Blows! (Eruptions Started Last Sunday)

Mount Redoubt, in Alaska, erupted yesterday.

It's about a hundred miles from Anchorage, so you'd think there wouldn't be much of a problem. With this volcano, a hundred miles is really close.

• "ALASKA VOLCANO PICTURES: Redoubt Erupts"
  National Geographic (March 23, 2009)
• "Alaska volcano erupts 15km into sky"
  RTÉ News (March 23, 2009)
• "Volcanic ash snarls air traffic in Alaska"
  Los Angeles Times (March 23, 2009)
• "Alaskans don masks as once-sleepy volcano spews ash"
  CNN (March 23, 2009)

Related posts:

• "Volcanoes, a Governor, Science, and the Next Yellowstone Caldera Blowout"
  (February 25, 2009)
  • Most of the post is about volcanoes in North America. Including the whopper under Yellowstone: "Mt. St. Helens and Pompeii: It Could Have Been a Lot Worse "
• "Mount Redoubt Steaming, Anchorage Waiting, Webcams Watching"
  (February 1, 2009)

Volcanoes, a Governor, Science, and the Next Yellowstone Caldera Blowout

"Gov. Jindal Follow-up: What Is 'Volcano Monitoring'?"
LiveScience (February 25, 2009)

"After President Obama's speech on the economy last night, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal criticized government spending in the stimulus bill, citing examples including '$140 million for something called "volcano monitoring." '

"The $140 million to which Jindal referred is actually for a number of projects conducted by the United States Geological Survey, including volcano monitoring. This monitoring is aimed at helping geologists understand the inner workings of volcanoes as well as providing warnings of impending eruptions, in the United States and in active areas around the world where U.S. military bases are located...."

Perhaps I shouldn't criticize Louisiana's governor. To the best of my knowledge, that state has no active volcanoes, ashfall from the last Yellowstone eruption only covered part of the northwest corner of Louisiana: and that was about 630,000 years ago. Governor Jindal is likely to be out of office before the caldera in Colorado erupts again.

Even so, volcano monitoring does benefit Louisiana - indirectly. Sooner or later, America will experience something like the Mt. St. Helens eruption. Remember having to put up with this sort of thing?

• Disrupted air travel
• Resources diverted to deal with rescue and recovery
• 'Volcano movies'

Mt. St. Helens: It Could Have Been Worse

Over in the Mediterranean, there was that Vesuvius eruption that buried Herculaneum and Pompeii, about two thousand years ago. If you think there was a fuss about Katrina, imagine what Congress would be saying about that, if it happened in today's America.

Mt. St. Helens and Pompeii: It Could Have Been a Lot Worse

Somewhere in the neighborhood of 630,000 years ago, in what's now the northwest corner of the American state of Wyoming, a volcano erupted. These days, the caldera has Earth's largest concentration of geysers. We call it Yellowstone Park.

That 630,000 BP eruption put about 1,000 cubic kilometers of ash in the air. That's about 240 cubic miles. Ash settled over quite a lot of what's now the United States of America.


(from Smith and Siegel, via "The Yellowstone Hotspot by Kim Smurlo (Spring 2004), used w/o permission)

That map shows what happened after the last few major eruptions over the Yellowstone hotspot, with Mt. St. Helens' recent hiccup included for comparison.

Even if we had learned enough, at this point, to know exactly when Yellowstone is going to erupt again, I rather doubt that we could evacuate the western two thirds of the North American continent in time. On the bright side, the odds are that we have several tens of thousands of years to get ready.



The last three big Yellowstone eruptions happened at roughly even intervals. Assuming that the next one goes off 'on schedule,' it's coming any time now: geologically speaking. I made that little timeline to plot the intervals between eruptions. Making quite a few assumptions, we may have around 60,000 years to prepare for the next big one. (Assumptions aren't all that reliable - see "Dr. Li's Cupola Formula, the Bond Market, and Wall Street's Meltdown" (February 24, 2009))

By that time, our descendants may be able to dissipate the caldera's energy harmlessly - or may already have tapped out that particular geothermal energy source. If not, well, there's not much I can do about right now.

For that matter, if I feel the floor shake in the next few minutes, and notice that internet connectivity is gone for points west, and lousy for everything else - there's not much I can do about that, either.


(from Smith, used w/o permission)
(see "Windows into the Earth: The Geologic Story of Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks" Robert B. Smith, Lee J. Siegel (2000) (available at amazon.com and elsewhere))

The hotspot that's under Yellowstone at this moment has been traveling northeast for the last several million years. Or, more accurately, the plate that North America is on has been traveling southwest, while the hotspot stayed still.

A Whole Lot Worse

About 75,000 years ago, or maybe 71,000 years back, Mt. Toba in Sumatra blew its top. Roughly 800 cubic kilometres (or, a bit shy of 200 cubic miles) of volcanic ash drifted northwest. Quite a lot fell on the Indian subcontinent: six inches to twenty feet deep. That's from about 15 centimeters, to just over six meters, of ash. There were people living there, before the eruption: but not after.

Related posts:

• "Mount Redoubt Steaming, Anchorage Waiting, Webcams Watching"
  (February 1, 2009)
• "That Was Close! Human Race Down to 2,000 Population"
  (April 25, 2008)
• " 'Journey of Mankind:' 160,000 Years of Ups and Downs"
  (November 1, 2007)

Background:

• "Mount Toba Eruption - Ancient Humans Unscathed, Study Claims"
  Anthropology.net (July 6, 2007)
• "Late Pleistocene human population bottlenecks, volcanic winter, and differentiation of modern humans"
  Professor Stanley H. Ambrose, Department of Anthropology, University Of Illinois, Urbana, USA (1998)
• "No. 2201: A BIG VOLCANO"
  The Engines of Our Ingenuity, University of Houston
• "Volcano Information"
  Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (last updated February 9, 2009)
• "Map of Yellowstone caldera, resurgent domes, and leveling benchmarks"
  Yellowstone Volcano Observatory
• "Yellowstone Volcano Observatory "
• "The New Madrid Fault Zone (NMFZ)"
  The University of Arkansas, Little Rock
  • California and Colorado aren't the only places with interesting tectonic weather

---

Update (February 27, 2009)

On the light side, a one-panel cartoon:
"Volcano Preparedness Tips"
One Panel Comix (February 27, 2009)

Actually, it's "Bobby Jindal's Volcano Preparedness Tips" - my favorite, right now, is #3: "Pick a good pose! In 2000 years when archeologists...."

Thanks to BlogCataloger diabolicomix, who linked to the cartoon in a discussion thread:
"Bobby Jindal's Volcano Preparedness Tips"
diabolicomix, BlogCatalog discussion thread (started February 26, 2009)