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posted by mrpg on Thursday April 11 2019, @02:22AM   Printer-friendly
from the better-safe-than-sorry-run dept.

Yellowstone Scientists Find New Thermal Area:

Yellowstone National Park has a new thermal area that scientists think has been growing for the past 20 years.

The new area is deep in Yellowstone's backcountry between West Tern Lake and the previously mapped Tern Lake thermal area, the U.S. Geological Survey [(USGS)] announced earlier this month.

"This is exactly the sort of behavior we expect from Yellowstone's dynamic hydrothermal activity," R. Greg Vaughan, a research scientist with USGS, wrote in a blog post, "and it highlights that changes are always taking place, sometimes in remote and generally inaccessible areas of the park."

A thermal area is the visible result on the Earth's surface of magma activity underground. They can include geysers, like Yellowstone's Old Faithful; hot springs; and fumaroles, which are vents that allow volcanic gases to escape. They are surrounded by hydrothermal mineral deposits, geothermal gas emissions, heated ground and lack of vegetation, the USGS says.

Previously: NASA Warning: "Catastrophic" Supervolcano Eruption Could "Push Humanity to Extinction".


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  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday April 11 2019, @02:51AM (1 child)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Thursday April 11 2019, @02:51AM (#827737) Journal

    We can probably see a civilization-killing asteroid many decades in advance and take steps to stop it. We can't clearly pinpoint Yellowstone's eruption in advance.

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Thursday April 11 2019, @12:24PM

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Thursday April 11 2019, @12:24PM (#827863)

    We can probably see a civilization-killing asteroid many decades in advance

    Do we really have enough data to predict that (p0.1), yet? As I recall, the recent Russian fireball came within 24 hours of an accurately predicted near-miss of a fairly big rock, but was itself not predicted at all and was supposed to have been completely unrelated to the near-miss object. Even if we think we can predict with p=0.1, is that particularly reassuring odds for an extinction level event?

    I do buy the argument: if it's big enough to wipe out civilization, it will be easier to see. What I don't buy is the idea that we'll get more than a cometary approaches' timespan to do something about it.

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