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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: 1) by khallow on Thursday April 11 2019, @12:49PM (9 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday April 11 2019, @12:49PM (#827878) Journal

    but if you attach a couple of weights to the poles of an otherwise uniform spinning sphere it will make it unstable

    Not very unstable if the weights are many orders of magnitude lighter than the sphere.

  • (Score: 2) by deimtee on Thursday April 11 2019, @04:34PM (8 children)

    by deimtee (3272) on Thursday April 11 2019, @04:34PM (#828095) Journal

    Did you read the article? The claim is that only the crust slips, so the top few dozen kilometres. Given how much ice stacks up on the poles during an ice age, a few orders of magnitude yes, if many means more than five or six then no. I don't really think it is likely, the masses involved are much too large to move that fast, but it is an entertaining speculation.
    The other point I find interesting is that if the continents are floating on magma, they should be migrating towards the equator.

    --
    If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 11 2019, @05:50PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 11 2019, @05:50PM (#828142)

      The other point I find interesting is that if the continents are floating on magma, they should be migrating towards the equator.

      Did you ever notice how the continents get narrow as you go south? And that mountain ranges tend to run north-south?

      https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/94888/why-are-continents-wider-at-the-north-and-tapering-towards-the-south [stackexchange.com]
      https://www.quora.com/Geology-Why-do-mountain-ranges-tend-to-run-north-south [quora.com]

    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday April 11 2019, @11:00PM (4 children)

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday April 11 2019, @11:00PM (#828358) Journal

      if many means more than five or six then no.

      This. Crust is much thicker, several times denser, and much wider area of coverage than the ice cover would be. Five or six orders of magnitude is easy under those circumstances. Further, it has pretty good traction from the mantle.

      And what does unstable mean in this situation? Merely that the axis of the Earth wobbles a little more. This crust slippage, particularly since it comes without a huge amount of evidence showing it occurs, is not a thing.

      • (Score: 2) by deimtee on Friday April 12 2019, @01:32AM (3 children)

        by deimtee (3272) on Friday April 12 2019, @01:32AM (#828421) Journal

        B.O.T.E.C.
        Total volume of current icecaps 33,000,000 km3
        Earth surface area 510,000,000km2 x 50km (max depth) x 2.7 (ave. density)
        = 68,850,000,000

        68,850,000,000 / 33,000,000
        = 2086

        So using generous estimates, the ratio is about 2000 to 1. A little over three orders of magnitude. I must admit I was a little surprised at that. I thought it would be closer to five or six orders.

        --
        If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
        • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Friday April 12 2019, @01:36AM (1 child)

          by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Friday April 12 2019, @01:36AM (#828425)

          How much denser is rock than ice? Volume is only part of the story.

          • (Score: 2) by deimtee on Friday April 12 2019, @03:36AM

            by deimtee (3272) on Friday April 12 2019, @03:36AM (#828457) Journal

            Third line. Average density of the crust is 2.7 times that of water. I suppose I should have thrown in another factor of 1.1 because ice is less dense than water, but it was only a rough calc. The average thickness of the crust is also much less than 50km, that's the maximum.

            --
            If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
        • (Score: 1) by khallow on Friday April 12 2019, @02:01AM

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday April 12 2019, @02:01AM (#828431) Journal
          You're right. I thought there was less ice in Antarctica than that.
    • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Friday April 12 2019, @01:35AM (1 child)

      by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Friday April 12 2019, @01:35AM (#828423)

      The continental crust is ~30 km thick, and the oceanic crust is ~5 km thick, so several orders of magnitude more than 5 or 6.

      The Cataclysmic pole shift hypothesis, or Earth crust displacement theory is fringe at best, pseudoscience at worst. There is no real evidence for it.

      • (Score: 2) by deimtee on Friday April 12 2019, @03:50AM

        by deimtee (3272) on Friday April 12 2019, @03:50AM (#828462) Journal

        The continental crust is ~30 km thick, and the oceanic crust is ~5 km thick, so several orders of magnitude more than 5 or 6.

        Here's a quick check, they say that if all the ice melts the sea level will rise ~60m.
        60m * 1 * 0.7 (sea area factor) : 30,000 *2.7 * 0.3 (land) + 5,000 *2.7*0.7(sea)
        42 : 33750
        That's a mass ratio of about 800.

        The Cataclysmic pole shift hypothesis, or Earth crust displacement theory is fringe at best, pseudoscience at worst. There is no real evidence for it.

        Well, yeah. This is just for fun. And sometimes you find interesting stuff. I had no idea there was that much ice, or that little crust.

        --
        If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.