Table of Contents
Can we drain Yellowstone?
So attempts at cooling and depressurizing magma systems would have many unintended, negative consequences, including making an eruption more likely. A program of large-scale magma quenching will not be undertaken at Yellowstone or elsewhere in the foreseeable future.
Can you drain volcano?
You definitely can’t plug up the summit crater nor those two dozen fissures – unless, of course, you want to create a more explosive series of events further down the line – and you certainly can’t block a lava flow of this magnitude by building barriers or using water; with few exceptions, this course of action simply …
What is it about the magma that makes Yellowstone eruption so explosive?
The most likely explosive event to occur at Yellowstone is actually a hydrothermal explosion—a rock-hurling geyser eruption—or a lava flow. Of the past 50 or so eruptions, almost all were simple lava flows.
When the top of a volcano collapses into a partially emptied magma Which of the following is formed?
caldera
A caldera is a depression created after a volcano partially collapses after releasing the majority of its magma chamber in an explosive eruption.
What happens when a lava lake drains?
Lava lakes experience filling, circulation, and often drainage depending upon the style of activity and location of the vent. Drainage of the lake resulted in uneven formation of roughly horizontal lava shelves on the lakeward edge of the vertical rinds; the shelves correlate with stable, staggered lake stands.
What can stop magma?
There is no way to stop the flow of lava, scientists say. Many have tried in the past, including famed U.S. Gen. George S. Patton, who attempted to bomb lava in its tracks.
What would happen if you drilled into the Yellowstone Volcano?
Even if there were significant “eruptable” magma beneath Yellowstone, drilling into it in an attempt to release pressure would have a devastating effect. Scientific research has proven again and again that depressurization is one of the factors that drives magma toward the surface to erupt.
Is Yellowstone National Park protected by geothermal resources?
Additionally, Yellowstone National Park is protected from geothermal resource development. World-famous features like Old Faithful Geyser and Grand Prismatic Spring depend on heat provided by the magma chamber deep below Yellowstone’s surface.
Could drilling for magma in Yellowstone National Park be successful?
In addition to the enormous expense and technological difficulties in drilling through hot, mushy rock, drilling is unlikely to have much effect on whatever magma is stored beneath Yellowstone.
What are the chances of a Yellowstone volcano erupting?
The USGS estimates the probability at 1 in 730,000 in any given year. There’s also a good chance that shifting tectonic plates in North America have eliminated the chance of an eruption altogether by forcing the magma hot spot under Yellowstone to encounter colder, energy-sapping rocks.