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[Yagrum Bagarn]

I was browsing digg and noticed this Science Daily article about the Yellowstone supervolcano.  I thought it might be of interest to the rest of the DF community, especially those of my fellows who've found themselves interested in geology.

Paraphrased FTA:  It's been discovered that the Yellowstone supervolcano has a magma plume going down at least 410 miles (and perhaps all the way to the core boundary of 1,800 miles), which directly contradicts many who believed it to have a shallow, convection-fed reservoir.  Capable of eruptions over a thousand times bigger than the 1980 Mt. St. Helens eruption, the supervolcano could bury the western US magma and ash.


Supervolcanos could theoretically end life on Earth.

[Dame de la Licorne]

There are also papers, where geologists/volcanologists have found indications that the Yellowstone volcano erupts every ~600,000 - 700,000 years, and the last eruption was ~640,000 years ago.  Wikipedia links to some good sources.

[Yagrum Bagarn]

Someone on digg also pointed that out, but they didn't have a source, either, or I would have mentioned it in my original post.

[Dame de la Licorne]

The US Geological Survey also has some good information: http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2005/3024/.

[Danarca]

Yeah it's very interesting.
And as Dame says we're quite a few years overdue, we have no way of hindering it and it would probably end 80%+ of all life.

No, really, it's fascinating!

[Dame de la Licorne]

Yeah it's very interesting.
And as Dame says we're quite a few years overdue, we have no way of hindering it and it would probably end 80%+ of all life.

No, really, it's fascinating!

It's not that we're overdue, it's that we're due! 

And yes, it's fascinating.

-Dame

[darkflagrance]

Luckily, if it's scheduled for ~650,000 years after the previous blast, it probably means that we won't be affected by it.

[Rowanas]

Yeah, we may be due on the geological scale, but who cares? We'll all be way dead by then, chilling in the grave. If you're lucky, you might be consumed by the sweet lifeblood of Armok while you rot.

[Quantum Toast]

Sounds like a good spot to reenact Boatmurdered.

[Hungry]

Supervolcano? Oh, you mean a caldera. Or in Yellowstone's case multi-caldera. Whats that, due to kill 80%+ of all life. Highly unlikely.

Agreed, a caldera would make an awsome DF embark location, it probably wont be erupting for at least another century, science is often wrong.

[Protactinium]

We should build a wall around it.

And perhaps put an air filter above it.


Problem solved.

[Rowanas]

Can you make air filters out of magma safe materials? If not, it'll deconstruct and our descendants will all die. You're forgetting that the real world has "better" physics than DF, it's been out for ages and has over 6 billion players.

[alfie275]

Also, do you think that a force that can burst through the earth's crust could be stopped by a wall?

[Rowanas]

It's called the "crust" for a reason. if we make it about 4 feet thick that should do.

P.S. The above statement proves my ineligibility for the post of senior engineer of any project, anywhere, ever.

[Yagrum Bagarn]

Supervolcano? Oh, you mean a caldera. Or in Yellowstone's case multi-caldera. Whats that, due to kill 80%+ of all life. Highly unlikely.

Agreed, a caldera would make an awsome DF embark location, it probably wont be erupting for at least another century, science is often wrong.

I was just using the term ("supervolcano") used in the article.

The great thing about science is that it's usually wrong about something several times before it's right (and has the grace to admit when that happens).  I realize we're highly unlikely to see such an event, but that's beside the point and only because of the difference between geological and human timescales.  Kind of like meteor strikes, though, it's not a question of "if" but "when" another eruption like this happens.

It's called the "crust" for a reason. if we make it about 4 feet thick that should do.

This is okay if we get dwarves to build it.  Dwarven walls are well-know to be indestructible.