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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 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.
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