BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand years

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand yea
From: Paul Burke
Date: 08 May 08 - 11:24 AM

You forgot http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/7390037.stm !

Warning- link contains video clip.

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand years
From: GUEST,Chief Chaos
Date: 08 May 08 - 11:05 AM

I understand the point of everyone's insurance going up to cover those that live in areas prone to those type of emergencies, but my point was rather that there just aren't any areas (that I know of anyway) that are immune to all of them. And I also forgot the Cosmic rays and meteors which I guess covers every disaster that could occur and also applies to every square inch of the planet!

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand yea
From: Stu
Date: 08 May 08 - 03:42 AM

It's rag all to a geologist.

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand years
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 May 08 - 10:50 PM

I was rounding it up, Rap, that was from memory. It has been quite a few years since I visited Alibates, so you'll have to forgive the averaging. What's a few hundred thousand years among friends?

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand yea
From: Rapparee
Date: 07 May 08 - 09:45 PM

The last time the Yellowstone Caldera acted up was 640,000 years ago, not a million. It's blown about every 600,000 years, so it's overdue. Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve was created by vulcanism about 2,000 year back and the area was, at that time, inhabited by the ancestors of the modern Shoshone; the event is noted in Shoshone history.

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand years
From: Don Firth
Date: 07 May 08 - 07:21 PM

A+!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand years
From: HuwG
Date: 07 May 08 - 05:35 PM

Some years ago, I was in a group walking near Buxton and Miller's Dale, in Derbyshire. From Miller's Dale we followed the "Limestone Trail" but then cut across country to return to Buxton. We descended into a hollow where the limestone gave way to black igneous rocks. As it was a hot summer day and the hollow was sheltered from the wind, it was rather close.

I asked if anyone was warm. Several girls agreed. I told them this was unsurprising, as we were standing in a volcanic vent. There were some screams and several people looked anxiously around as if expecting an imminent eruption.

I pointed out that this particular vent had last done anything interesting about 250 million years ago, during the Carboniferous era. That didn't entirely reassure everyone.


Note: the Lower Carboniferous is referred to as the Mississippian, in US usage. Do I get marks for correct spelling?

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand years
From: Slag
Date: 07 May 08 - 04:40 PM

Well, talk about thread drift, from an ancient volcano waking up to unexplainable decrease in European honeybee populations in North America. Believe me, the bee industry is a multi-billion dollar industry and those involved are pursuing every avenue to discover the cause and treatment of whatever vector(s) may be involved. No one is pooh-poohing this situation. Sometimes the rivets just work themselves out. Great strides have been taken and more are now being instituted to reduce human interference via certain chemicals, etc. which effect the environs of beneficial insects. We are not doing nothing!

As for volcanoes and chainsaws, file this under little known or at least little reported facts. There are now more trees in North America than when Europeans first arrived. Forests are a renewable resource. I'm all for hanging onto what we now have in terms of old-growth forests. The pillaging of the last century and a half is over. Let it be over. But also how about a little praise for some far-sighted folks who have learned how to manage a forest as a crop which provides habitat for many generations of woodland creatures until harvest and then that same harvest causes minimal displacement and discomfort for the same creatures as other forests nearby are coming on line also. It can be done and it is being done. Now, if we can just find a way of taking care of these pesky volcanoes!

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand yea
From: Rapparee
Date: 07 May 08 - 04:17 PM

Well, if the government would hurry up and get their Economic Stimulus money to them maybe this sort of thing wouldn't happen. I know I'm planning to stimulate the economy by paying off my credit cards (whether or not the stimulus money is there).

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand years
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 07 May 08 - 01:55 PM

The writer Jared Diamond likens all the plants and animals etc. that we share this planet with to rivets holding an aeroplane together. Those of us who understand this point are like passengers on the aeroplane who can only watch in horror as our fellow passengers knock the rivets out one by one. If we protest we get told "Huh! You care more about lousy little rivets than you do about people!"

As the spring has started here in Manchester, UK out have come the chainsaws, bulldozers and the herbicide sprays, and our dwindling stock of biodiversity is being subjected to the usual sustained attack (untidy weeds and vermin - kill, kill, kill!!). Even on my Local Nature Reserve (its official title) our most historically important plant colony (a 'Greater Manchester Biodiversity Action Plan Protected Species') has been drenched in herbicide and the Chief Warden thinks I'm an eccentric, interfering busybody just for pointing this out and asking why?

As for American bees - well it just jolly well serves them right for getting sick and not doing their bit for economic growth!

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand years
From: beardedbruce
Date: 07 May 08 - 10:39 AM

Why worry about that? Without pollination, how many people can the earth support, anyway?


CNN:
More commercial bee colonies lost

Highlights
Survey: 36.1 percent of nation's commercially managed hives lost since last year

New diseases, pesticide drift, old enemies like parasitic mite blamed

Survey included 327 operators -- 19 percent of U.S. commercial beehives

About 29 percent of deaths due to collapse disorder, in which bees abandon hives




   
SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- A survey of bee health released Tuesday revealed a grim picture, with 36.1 percent of the nation's commercially managed hives lost since last year.


Bees are dying at unsustainable levels, the president of the Apiary Inspectors of America says.

Last year's survey commissioned by the Apiary Inspectors of America found losses of about 32 percent.

As beekeepers travel with their hives this spring to pollinate crops around the country, it's clear the insects are buckling under the weight of new diseases, pesticide drift and old enemies like the parasitic varroa mite, said Dennis vanEngelsdorp, president of the group.

This is the second year the association has measured colony deaths across the country. This means there aren't enough numbers to show a trend, but clearly bees are dying at unsustainable levels and the situation is not improving, said vanEngelsdorp, also a bee expert with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.

"For two years in a row, we've sustained a substantial loss," he said. "That's an astonishing number. Imagine if one out of every three cows, or one out of every three chickens, were dying. That would raise a lot of alarm."

The survey included 327 operators who account for 19 percent of the country's approximately 2.44 million commercially managed beehives. The data is being prepared for submission to a journal.

About 29 percent of the deaths were due to colony collapse disorder, a mysterious disease that causes adult bees to abandon their hives. Beekeepers who saw CCD in their hives were much more likely to have major losses than those who didn't.

"What's frightening about CCD is that it's not predictable or understood," vanEngelsdorp said.

On Tuesday, Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff announced that the state would pour an additional $20,400 into research at Pennsylvania State University looking for the causes of CCD. This raises emergency funds dedicated to investigating the disease to $86,000.

The issue also has attracted federal grants and funding from companies that depend on honeybees, including ice-cream maker Haagen-Dazs.

Because the berries, fruits and nuts that give about 28 of Haagen-Dazs' varieties flavor depend on honeybees for pollination, the company is donating up to $250,000 to CCD and sustainable pollination research at Penn State and the University of California, Davis.

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand yea
From: Stu
Date: 07 May 08 - 10:36 AM

I wouldn't worry Skarpi - in Iceland the mid-Atlantic ridge surfaces and is accessible. All that loverly fresh silicate rock to look at! This is a divergent plate boundary, so hopefully your volcanoes are moving further away from the cause of the trouble.

However, as Don points out, we are floating on a thin crust and without the deposition of any sediment, your bit's really very thin. Should keep your shoes warm though : )

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand years
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 May 08 - 10:20 AM

I forgot to note above that when the (same) Yellowstone volcano last erupted, about a million years ago, it deposited a great deal of ash over the North Texas (panhandle) area. The gorgeous color of the flint at Alibate's Flint Quarry is the result of the minerals that leeched and redistributed through the microcrystalline quartz in the area.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand yea
From: open mike
Date: 07 May 08 - 01:59 AM

when Mt. St. Helens erupted, it deposited ash in montana, hundreds of miles away.In Idaho it was several inches deep on the ground, and caused
some plants to wither and die.

some enterprising folks packaged and sold samples of it to commemorate the event. I especially remember small vials of it and blown glass containers of it going for souveniers. at least one of the people who died in the eruption was warned to leave but stubbornly insisted on staying.

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand yea
From: Rowan
Date: 07 May 08 - 01:28 AM

Let's see, there's Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Ice Storms/Blizzards, Earthquakes, Volcanoes, Tsunamis, Drought, Sandstorms...

Chief, you forgot wildfires (quite forgiveable, and we have cyclones rather than hurricanes) but we also have people who persist in rebuilding in exactly the same vulnerable styles in exactly the same vulnerable locations that "destroyed" them in the first place. Some of this is because they have no (or too little) choice but much of it is plain ego, especially when they refuse to modify building styles to better protect themselves from the threat that destroyed their earlier efforts.

While I have some sympathy with the sentiment behind your we can either live in fear, or we can just plain LIVE! it's the rest of us whose insurance premiums go up to cover the costs of their living. And I've noticed that not many of those who rebuild in problematic styles in problematic locations are volunteers in the various emergency services that deal with the results of Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Ice Storms/Blizzards, Earthquakes, Volcanoes, Tsunamis, Drought, Sandstorms...(and wildfires).

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand years
From: GUEST,TIA
Date: 06 May 08 - 11:07 PM

Why did "Chixulub" change to "ulub" in my post above? I promise you that is not what I typed. Something strange is going on......

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand years
From: GUEST,TIA
Date: 06 May 08 - 10:57 PM

The history of Earth is rife with the rise of a particular class of organisms, followed by their sudden demise -- sometimes as a result of their alteration of conditions on planet Earth (e.g. the Pre-Cambrian anaerobic algae who metabolized themselves to extinction, thus paving the way for oxygen dependent life forms), and sometimes as a result of cosmic cataclysms (e.g.    ulub crater). As self-aware organisms, who have documented the former, I can only hope that our demise will be the result of the latter. Sssighhhh.

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand years
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 May 08 - 10:49 PM

Who knew that the American Mid-West was the most tornado prone area on the planet? or that Yellowstone was one gigantic calderas? Under "should have known" are the Mississippi flood planes and those of adjoining rivers. As San Francisco grew who really knew the extent of the San Andreas fault system, the Calaveras, the Hayward, the Rogers Creek, San Gregorio and a host of others?

Obvious answer to that, but the European settlers weren't doing a good job of asking the indigenous people about the local conditions.

Don, that was a beautifully written, very tidy and accurate summary of the events at and around Mt. St. Helens. You are to be congratulated! I've been in some geology classes that would have benefited from that succinct approach!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand years
From: GUEST,Chief Chaos
Date: 06 May 08 - 08:33 PM

Let's see, there's Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Ice Storms/Blizzards, Earthquakes, Volcanoes, Tsunamis, Drought, Sandstorms...

Seems to me that there isn't anywhere in the world that isn't vulnerable to one of the above.

So we can either live in fear, or we can just plain LIVE!

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand years
From: Slag
Date: 06 May 08 - 07:04 PM

In the Old World and other places where civilization has been around for a while many of the places prone to natural disaster have been avoided. A volcano that frequently blows its stack earns a certain reputation. With infrequent occurrence a people are more likely to forget or engage in denial (it couldn't happen to US!) and yes, it seems that population pressure does force folks into badly prone areas such as flood plains. Etna and Vesuvius are exceptions because of proximity to major population centers, natural beauty and fertility of the soil.

In the New World many of the dangers were (are) unknown and unrecorded. Who knew that the American Mid-West was the most tornado prone area on the planet? or that Yellowstone was one gigantic calderas? Under "should have known" are the Mississippi flood planes and those of adjoining rivers. As San Francisco grew who really knew the extent of the San Andreas fault system, the Calaveras, the Hayward, the Rogers Creek, San Gregorio and a host of others? 1906, what a way to find out! But what did they learn? Ah, build it up again. Don't listen to the guys screaming about building codes, Bah! This is America! We can overcome anything! Right, couldn't happen again in a million years.

I feel for people who get locked into an area economically when that area is one of high risk for natural disaster. Not their fault (no pun intended) but how do they get away? They don't. We gaze at the plaster casts of the unbelievers of Pompeii and Herculaneum, the unbelievers and the ones with nowhere to go and yet we fail to see ourselves in one of those grotesque, tormented poses. We, too, are unbelievers.

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand years
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 06 May 08 - 12:50 PM

"My question is why aren't there any of these dangerous volcanoes and earthquakes in places no one really cares about..."

Yes, I know that the rest of this question is mischievously ironic - but it remains an interesting question all the same.

The thing is, the more people we cram onto the planet, the more of them are in the way when natural disasters happen. Ten thousand years ago Hurricane Katrina would have merely slammed into rather a lot of marshy ground. And I would guess that any Native Americans in the area would have been highly mobile, and very clued up about hurricanes, and would have been watching events from high ground. Could our ancestors read the signs connected with imminent earthquakes and/ volcanic eruptions? Possibly - but this may be an over-romantic view. Certainly fewer people would have died - purely because there were fewer people around.

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand years
From: gnu
Date: 06 May 08 - 03:29 AM

Don... "Eat dessert first." Hahahahahaha. I gotta go get more tea now. Heheheheeee

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand yea
From: skarpi
Date: 06 May 08 - 03:25 AM

I guess we really don't need to worry about Iranian nukes then?

why should we ??
Just send the US and the Isreal fighter and bombe it up ?

ATB SKHA

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand years
From: M.Ted
Date: 05 May 08 - 10:15 PM

The key words being "scientists theorize"--

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand years
From: GUEST,Chief Chaos
Date: 05 May 08 - 06:09 PM

I guess we really don't need to worry about Iranian nukes then?

Gee...that's a load off my shoulders!

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand years
From: Don Firth
Date: 05 May 08 - 02:35 PM

Well, now. We may not have to worry about volcanoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, earth-crossing asteroids, Bob Dylan, or any other such horrendous cataclysms.

Some 8,000 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius lies Wolf-Rayet 104 (WF 104). It seems that WR 104 is a highly unstable star that is due to self-destruct in a huge explosion almost any time now. When it does, it will emit more energy than our sun will put out in its entire lifetime, and a large part of that energy will be an enormous gamma ray burst. Astronomers have recently theorized that a cosmic gamma ray burst from an exploding star triggered a mass extinction of life on earth 443 million years ago, and that star was much further away than 8,000 light years. The extremely dangerous part of a gamma ray burster in contrast to a "normal" supernova, is that the gamma ray bursts from such explosions are blasted in a concentrated beam from star's poles.

And earth is almost directly in line with WR 104's pole.

Theoretical physicist Michio Kaku (Hyperspace, Parallel Worlds, Impossible Physics) has pointed out that since WR 104 is some 8,000 light years from us, we are, of course, seeing it as it was 8,000 years ago. It could have already exploded. And if it exploded, say, 7,999 years and 364 days ago, give or take. . . .

Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand yea
From: mouldy
Date: 05 May 08 - 12:50 PM

My son in NZ has just mailed me to tell me a volcano near Taupo is getting restless and "might provide some entertainment" while I'm out there in a couple of weeks' time.

Lovely...I think

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand years
From: beardedbruce
Date: 05 May 08 - 11:45 AM

making this a music thread...

A well I bless my soul
What's wrong with me?
I'm itching like a man on a fuzzy tree
My friends say I'm actin' wild as a bug
I'm in love
I'm all shook up
Mm mm oh, oh, yeah, yeah!

My hands are shaky and my knees are weak
I can't seem to stand on my own two feet
Who do you thank when you have such luck?
I'm in love
I'm all shook up
Mm mm oh, oh, yeah, yeah!

Please don't ask me what's on my mind
I'm a little mixed up, but I'm feelin' fine
When I'm near that girl that I love best
My heart beats so it scares me to death!

She touched my hand what a chill I got
Her lips are like a vulcano that's hot
I'm proud to say she's my buttercup
I'm in love
I'm all shook up
Mm mm oh, oh, yeah, yeah!

My tongue get tied when I try to speak
My insides shake like a leaf on a tree
There's only one cure for this body of mine
That's to have the girl that I love so fine!

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand yea
From: M.Ted
Date: 05 May 08 - 11:43 AM

When I was a child, we lived near Vesuvius, which had erupted a few years earlier, and frequently fumed and shook.   Many years later, without thinking about the parallel, I moved to the SF Bay area, and into a house planted squarely on the Hayward Fault. I was surprised to find a that a fair number of fellow Neopolitans had resettled there--attracted by familiar combination of a beautiful bay, fog, and constant seismic activity--

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand years
From: Bill D
Date: 05 May 08 - 11:42 AM

I think a giant cork for Media outlets to reduce emissions of 'scare' documentaries is a FINE idea! I have seen 27 programs on how I might die 'if' some aspect of nature acts up....enuf!

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand yea
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 05 May 08 - 09:33 AM

Depends where you insert it Rap... :-P

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand yea
From: Rapparee
Date: 05 May 08 - 09:20 AM

Skarpi, I lived for many years on or near the New Madrid Earthquake Fault -- the one that rattled the US midwest a couple weeks ago. That was also tornado country. If I learned nothing else, I learned that you can be prepared for a disaster but if a tornado/hurricane/volcano/earthquake is going to happen there is nothing you can do about it except try to get out of the way.

Someday every place in the United States will have a disaster. Every place in the world will.

I don't think my giant cork will stop it if Yellowstone wants to blow up.

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand yea
From: skarpi
Date: 05 May 08 - 03:05 AM

Hallo !!!

Nobody is WIMP !!!! come on folks , there are many great volcanos
in the world , Yellowstone is among the biggest, but there are
volcanos like LAKI , Indonesia , and the fact that Laki killed
1/3 of my nation and even got some people in UK and else were
what will happen today in our time ????


all the best Skarpi Iceland

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand yea
From: beardedbruce
Date: 05 May 08 - 02:54 AM

http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/

and ( just for the US)
http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Historical.html

http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Glossary/Eruptions/framework.htm

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand yea
From: beardedbruce
Date: 05 May 08 - 02:39 AM

http://www.data.scec.org/recenteqs.html

An interesting site...

http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=49&aid=76250#List


http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/eqlists/eqstats.html

http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/eqlists/info_1990s.html

http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/eqlists/graphs.html

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand yea
From: beardedbruce
Date: 05 May 08 - 02:27 AM

I was working on Crustal Dynamics ( Goddard Laser Tracking system ) from 1982 - 1986, We tracked motions on the order of cm per year(NOTE). At one point, there was a stop in the motion of the California plate, which had been moving at 8 cm/year.

They decided it was too dangerous to evacuate California.


Now, just when were those major quakes in Oakland?


BTW, when I was unemployed, I did NOT take a job in LA...


NOTE: We ( Goddard and U of Texas) also developed high precision Earth Gravity models ( GEM-10, 50 x 50) from our tracking of LAGEOS and a few other cornercube equipt s/c.

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand yea
From: Rowan
Date: 05 May 08 - 02:13 AM

Thankfully, most of the volcanoes on the Oz mainland have been dead for the last 10k years or so. Big Ben is still active but is so far away most people forget it's even Australian. And the Shaky Isles are downwind of us so we can ignore NZ's efforts most of the time. But we're approaching Indonesia at 6cm/year so our north will gradually hot up a bit.

Can't compete with Skarpi though.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand yea
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 05 May 08 - 01:55 AM

"why aren't there any of these dangerous volcanoes and earthquakes in places no one really cares about"

The volcanoes spew out lava that weathers to form highly fertile soil, which is what attracts people to settle there...

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand yea
From: Amergin
Date: 05 May 08 - 01:29 AM

My question is why aren't there any of these dangerous volcanoes and earthquakes in places no one really cares about....and would miss if they went away....like Texas....or Washington, DC?

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand years
From: Slag
Date: 05 May 08 - 01:08 AM

slag? SLAG? Did I just hear my name taken in vain? Drifting around on slag indeed!

Yup, Yellowstone is the Grand Daddy in North America and perhaps the world. When John Coulter scouted it out it was know as Coulter's Hell. A fascinating place. But California has a really huge caldera also! Mammoth, Mammoth Lakes Caldera. It last erupted many thousands of years ago but when it did the ash shield covered most of what is now the United State and even into the Atlantic Ocean. That qualifies for "Big", don't you think?

Mt. Konocti is our little volcano, about 10 miles from where I live. It last erupted 25,000 years ago. Today's elevation is just slightly over 4000 ft. but estimates pre-eruption were closer to 8,000 ft. Almost half the mountain disappeared when it corked off! /\~~~~   

Skarpi has the worst and the best scenario. Those eruptions which ooze can be out run for the most part but some of those Icalandic monsters can go BANG too! Be prepared. That the only and the best advice I can tell you.

My cousin's husband is a geologist and he told us that if Konocti ever starts rumbling to get out ASAP and be at least 100 miles away. Hmmm! Also good advice for our more explosive type volcanos on the West Coast!

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand years
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 May 08 - 12:20 AM

Every one of you except Skarpi is a wimp.

Me? Why? Just cause it didn't blow or quake while I was living there?:-)

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand yea
From: Rapparee
Date: 04 May 08 - 10:07 PM

Every one of you except Skarpi is a wimp.

I live in the Yellowstone Caldera area, and it's 40,000 years past due to blow.

Not like there's much I or anyone else can do when it does. The damage and fallout will spread from the western border of Wyoming/Montana to Detroit or farther East, easily a 2,000 miles or more.

But just in case, I have a giant cork ready.

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano active, slept for ten thousand years
From: GUEST,Chief Chaos
Date: 04 May 08 - 08:00 PM

In the Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction column,

Due to the numerous car alarms and other day to day noise, there is a town that has decided to use amplified cows mooing to alert the public to ominous happenings over it's emergency alert system, this includes volcanic eruption and tsunamis.

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano activ , slept for ten th,years
From: katlaughing
Date: 04 May 08 - 07:36 PM

Dr. Who was just there the day Vesuvius blew in this week's episode on Sci-fi! It was really well done. I remember my Latin class had a whole chapter in Pompeii and Vesuvius with all kinds of photos of the excavations.

Volcanoes and earthquakes. Yellowstone is overdue for a big one of the latter.

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano activ , slept for ten th,years
From: gnu
Date: 04 May 08 - 07:27 PM

And there is Up Pompeii. I enjoyed that film, and series. Carry on.

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano activ , slept for ten th,years
From: Amos
Date: 04 May 08 - 06:34 PM

There is a film currently in distribution, a documentary of the people who once lived around Vesuvius, and those who live there now, in the area surrounding the ruins of Pompeii.

The civil authorities are driven to madness trying to figure out any kind of possible evacuation plan if the old girl were to erupt again, and under the looming certainty that sooner or later, she will. Many of the citizens are quite fatalistic about it though. Their turf is their turf, and they aren't going anywhere.

It's a fascinating film and I recommend it if you can find it. IIt is called Pompeii Documentary: In The Shadow of Vesuvius and was being played at our local Natural History museum.

There is also a movie called The Last Days of Pompeii which reconstructs the drama of Pompeii's destruction based on the written observations by Pliny, who was in the vicinity.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano activ , slept for ten th,years
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 04 May 08 - 06:26 PM

The Laki eruption poisoned livestock and crops to the extent that 1/4 of the population died of starvation according to one estimate, but I wouldn't doubt that 1/3 died overall (Campin, above). The eruption of 934 may have been been even larger.

I'll take the Shield of Canada, thank you.

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano activ , slept for ten th,years
From: Don Firth
Date: 04 May 08 - 06:08 PM

I heard a geologist put it this way once:   "We're drifting around on a thin crust of slag on top of a huge ball of boiling nickel-iron."

Don Firth

P. S. Keep your seat belt fastened.

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano activ , slept for ten th,years
From: Jack Campin
Date: 04 May 08 - 05:27 PM

The nastiest eruption in Iceland in historic times was Laki in 1783-4. It poisoned and froze most of northern Europe. A third of the population of Iceland died, not many fewer in Shetland, and crops failed as far away as France and Latvia. It wasn't a dramatic bang - lava and gas spilling out for months.

Subject: RE: BS: Volcano activ , slept for ten th,years
From: Little Hawk
Date: 04 May 08 - 04:28 PM

"asleep for ten thousand years and started an eruption"

Hmm. This means my dog could erupt anytime. It just goes to show, you shouldn't take anything for granted.