Supervolcanoes with power to 'destroy civilisation' explode far more rapidly than scientists had believed - and one could be bubbling under U.S. right now
5 x# b; t( W7 q! W: Z) v* f: k9 OTVBNOW 含有熱門話題,最新最快電視,軟體,遊戲,電影,動漫及日常生活及興趣交流等資訊。- Most deadly event that can hit Earth short of asteroid
- Scientists believed they took 100,000 years to build up
- Instead, figure could be just hundreds
- Supervolcano believed to be simmering under Yellowstone in U.S.
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A 'supervolcano' eruption is the most catastrophic natural disaster that can hit our planet, short of an asteroid impact - and now scientists believe they may build up a deadly head of steam far faster than we thought.
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Instead of the process taking hundreds of thousands of years, it could take just hundreds.5.39.217.76) a1 o4 q: c# s
3 Q1 t2 V# @- _( k3 W5 h% p: q公仔箱論壇The news could be bad for the US, where a supervolcano is said to be simmering beneath Yellowstone National Park. If it erupted, two thirds of the country could be rendered uninhabitable.
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Eruption: Supervolcanoes with the power to destroy human civilisations may build up a deadly head of steam far faster than scientists believed
. K8 P8 k" H g, Z5.39.217.76Supervolcanoes are fuelled by giant pools of magma that form deep underground.
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Geologists had thought it took between 100,000 to 200,000 years for a supervolcano magma pool to build up enough pressure to erupt.TVBNOW 含有熱門話題,最新最快電視,軟體,遊戲,電影,動漫及日常生活及興趣交流等資訊。9 Z' D r: F$ T4 [
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But the new study suggests that the giant magma bodies may only exist for a few thousand years, or even a few hundred, before exploding.TVBNOW 含有熱門話題,最新最快電視,軟體,遊戲,電影,動漫及日常生活及興趣交流等資訊。% z- n4 b% [0 ?. I8 B) [' ^) {
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A magma reservoir six miles below Yellowstone has been rising at a record rate since 2004.
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The Wyoming park sits above a gigantic plume of hot and molten rock that begins at least 400 miles beneath Earth's surface and rises to 30 miles underground, where it widens to about 300 miles across.
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Blobs of magma occasionally break off from the top of the plume, and rise farther, resupplying the magma chamber beneath the Yellowstone Caldera.
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5 X2 E9 S `" W- ^Steaming Mud Volcano at Yellowstone National Park in winter. Researchers now believe that the supervolcano beneath the park could be more active than thought 5 x+ p. \/ q" [: ^! m( s
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The news could be bad for the US, where a supervolcano is said to be simmering beneath Yellowstone National Park. If it erupted, two thirds of the country could be rendered uninhabitable公仔箱論壇/ T) h6 E2 b1 f; M9 U* u" O# W$ w
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" e4 X! L- b9 G8 o3 E6 K& F5.39.217.76Castle Geyser and sunrise Yellowstone National Park Wyoming: Researchers now believe that the huge 'supervolcano' beneath the park is far more active than previously thought
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6 {) q6 h X9 ^, C" \4 F+ M& xResembling the lid of a cooking pot, the caldera formed when the last super-eruption occurred 600,000 years ago.
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& I' X' I3 B5 k- q, fThe supervolcano has erupted a total of three times in the last 2.1 million years. Scientists believe it could be due to erupt again.. T* w0 X/ O# m
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' s) ~* q3 y3 e/ R# BA full scale eruption at Yellowstone would be 1,000 times more powerful than the volcanic blast that tore apart Mount St Helens in 1980.4 C/ I& j" h1 w) |+ r! @
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8 g+ N) \0 X# X6 F9 ^& _) uThere is evidence that a similar super-eruption in Indonesia 74,000 years ago came close to wiping out the entire human species.+ ^. ^# t- x, H5 d' ]5 B
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The new study was based on analysis of a super-eruption that occurred in eastern California 760,000 years ago.
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+ \" c0 @( C: n M; _TVBNOW 含有熱門話題,最新最快電視,軟體,遊戲,電影,動漫及日常生活及興趣交流等資訊。Several independent lines of evidence indicated that the magma pool erupted within a few thousand years, perhaps within a few hundred years, covering half the North American continent with smouldering ash.
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4 S6 h+ f% c! R6 U5.39.217.76The scientists based their estimate on quartz crystallisation rates. Previous studies have relied on the growth of zircon crystals, which is said to be a less accurate method.5.39.217.76& N6 b) J) A) I+ i ]+ f- e7 L8 b; D
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The research is published in the online journal Public Library of Science ONE.
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Lead scientist Dr Guilherme Gualda, from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, said: ‘Our study suggests that when these exceptionally large magma pools form they are ephemeral and cannot exist very long without erupting.
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* P* N/ @% \0 ~+ c7 P2 J+ H5.39.217.76‘The fact that the process of magma body formation occurs in historical time, instead of geological time, completely changes the nature of the problem.’5.39.217.762 f$ H* ]% s3 C+ L* T
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He said regions such as Yellowstone should be monitored regularly to provide advance warning of a catastrophic super-eruption. |