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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".
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Thursday April 11 2019, @05:10PM (1 child)
"surface was melted" is too strong a statement. "Residue from thin crust of melt was found over about half the surface" seems much more likely. IF there was a large flare sufficient to cause melting, only the side facing the sun would be affected, and there doesn't seem any evidence that more than a very thin surface layer was melted. (The article said "glazed".)
There's a strong question as to how much shielding the atmosphere would provide. I feel uncertain. It might not (directly) kill anyone.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 11 2019, @05:45PM
Yes, that is why it is of interest whether or not the entire surface is "glazed". That would mean it happened at least twice in the last ~30k years.
And it isn't really thought to be a flare, the article suggests a "micronova". Ie, that the sun periodically gets much brighter/hotter than usual for a fraction of a second and blows out a cloud of molten elements in all directions.