Anyone near Yellowstone? What's going on there?

[NorthTexasWink]

I've been hearing unsettling things about the tremors and geological activity increasing in that area and not everything being reported? The camera at Old Faithful apparently was struck by lightning and is still not working. HE got information (I don't know his sources and am skeptical) that animals are "fleeing" the area, the USGS is under-reporting/misrepresenting the current geological situation, the camera at Old Faithful has not been live but playing loops for weeks before going down last week due to lightning, and that area roads are closed due to "melting". Any of this true?

Should we all be preparing for some catastrophe over there? Like I said, I'm skeptical, but if I hear from someone who is actually in the area I'll have something to calm HE down. I hope y'all are just fine and it's just the usual around there.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Hopefully it's all rumors, otherwise we will all shortly be in big trouble.

 

[NorthTexasWink]

Boy ain't that the truth.

 

[NorthTexasWink]

Wow! All the Wyoming folks get swallowed up?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Wow! All the Wyoming folks get swallowed up?

Yep, and the rest of us in the wind path get a massive ash cloud, poisonous sulfur gas, and probably months of darkness, 2/3 of the country will be affected. I've watched a few shows on it. It is a scary thought, but the scientists believe our chances are low for an eruption anytime soon, but you never know.

 

[NorthTexasWink]

Yeah, I'm not an alarmist, and truth be told, since there isn't much I could do about it other than what I've already done, I'm more curious than anything else. I'm interested in if the data from the USGS is being censored or withheld. HE hasn't checked the Old Faithful camera yet. I've probably seen the same stuff you have, oldhenlikesdogs. Wouldn't be a hayride, that's for sure.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

It is one of those things that where do you actually want to know ahead of time or not? Would I get myself a new home in another country? Or one in Alaska? Or maybe just going way west would be enough? I guess I shouldn't get too complacent here in the sleepy middle of Wisconsin, some things could still endanger my quiet life. Maybe Canada would take us. Wouldn't it be ironic if a big chunk of the U.S. became refugees? We shouldn't always be looking to burn our bridges.

 

[azurbanclucker]

So, I went to school to study geology, and in particular I was interested in volcanology and fluid dynamics. I keep an eye on Yellowstone, The cascades range of volcanoes, (Hood/Ranier/St Helens/Shasta/Baker) and some of the Volcanoes in Northern Mexico. There are risks from all of them to the US, and in some cases the whole planet.

The Yellowstone caldera is MASSIVE, 1500 square miles or so and it hasn't always been where it is today. That's a roughly 35x45 mile wide single volcano that the North American Plate is just casually floating over. 16 million years ago it was on what is now the Idaho/Utah/Nevada border. As North America has drifted West, the hotspot has migrated Northeast to where it is now. It's merrily blown it's stack several times along that route, and you can see the effects in the geology all over the western US.

Having said that, the things that are happening there are not new. Roads have been melting there since they started putting in roads. Earthquake activity in swarms is so common it isn't normally reported, especially when the peak magnitudes has been 4.4. that's enough be felt but not do any more damage than maybe knock over pictures on a bookshelf, if that. The number of quakes is within historical norms at least, so it's not new or increased really. The geysers ebb and flow with the activity of the magma under the caldera, and the Shoshone river used to be known as the "stinking River" due to the number of vents that used to flow under it making it smell like sulfur all the time. Every now and then you'll see an article about a vent popping up, but again it's nothing new.

As to the camera, with the current administration making a concerted effort to gut funding for the National Parks Service, it may never come back. If the money's not there to fix it, it's simply going to not be fixed.

Personally, I do keep an eye on it partially because it still fascinates me, and partially because I know at some point it WILL blow again. Will it be soon? I honestly don't think so. The activity isn't statistically seeing an increase if you go back and look at historical records, we're just seeing more and more of it in the media. This is partially because sensationalism drives web traffic, which generates revenue. It's also partially because people fear what they don't understand, and they KNOW that the caldera is overdue for a release event. So, they freak a little bit and post crazy things on the internet which then get picked up and sensationalized, repeating the cycle.

I wouldn't spend a lot of time worrying about Yellowstone in all honesty. If it goes, we're done for, and you really don't want to know it's coming.

 

[NorthTexasWink]

Thanks! I think. Yeah, thank you. >insert nervous giggle<

 

[azurbanclucker]

Thanks! I think. Yeah, thank you. >insert nervous giggle<

I know, it's still kinda a "doom and gloom" appraisal, but I don't think the risk is that great for our lifetimes or probably that of our kids. let's just leave it at that.