Hidden deep beneath the
Earth's surface lie one of the most destructive and yet least-understood
natural phenomena in the world - supervolcanoes. Only a handful exist in the
world but when one erupts it will be unlike any volcano we have ever witnessed.
The explosion will be heard around the world. The sky will darken, black rain
will fall, and the Earth will be plunged into the equivalent of a nuclear
winter.
Normal
volcanoes are formed by a column of magma - molten rock - rising from deep
within the Earth, erupting on the surface, and hardening in layers down the
sides. This forms the familiar cone shaped mountain we associate with
volcanoes. Supervolcanoes, however, begin life when magma rises from the mantle
to create a boiling reservoir in the Earth's crust. This chamber increases to
an enormous size, building up colossal pressure until it finally erupts.
Other
supervolcanoes around the world include Kikai Caldera in Ryukyu Islands, Japan;
Long Valley Caldera, California; La Garita Caldera, Colorado; and Camp Flegrei,
Campania, Italy. A supervolcano blast at Lake Taupo, New Zealand (image right), in the year
186 ce, devastated New Zealand’s northern island. Compared to a Yellowstone,
however, the Lake Taupo eruption would be but a puff of steam.
To
understand how supervolcanoes work, imagine a blazing abscess moving and
growing under your skin, suffusing the flesh below with fiery pus. In
geological terms, this abscess is known as a hot spot, and the Earth’s skin, or
crust, is moving over it. In Windows into the Earth, Robert Smith and his
cowriter, Lee. J. Siegel, former science editor of the Salt Lake Tribune, explain that most hot spots are “columns or plumes of hot and molten rock that begin
1,800 miles underground at the boundary between Earth’s core and lower mantle,
then flow slowly upward [because heat rises] through the entire mantle and
crust.”
Meanwhile, the recent discovery of
the supervolcano phenomenon shows that volcanic eruptions can be hundreds of
times more destructive than anything recorded in our history books. Do these
new realizations harbor implications about the mysterious olden legends of
Atlantis?
The brief tick of recorded history
gives only a hint of the catastrophes sometimes visited upon our small azure
planet. We now know that bolides from space have at times struck with such
impact that many or most species on the earth have been obliterated. There is
another threat, equally great but less widely known, which we have only lately
begun to comprehend — what are termed “supervolcanoes.”
Occupying thousands of square miles,
these dwarf anything in our history books. Disasters such as Krakatoa, Tambora,
Pelee and Santorini are mere sneezes compared to some colossal eruptions of the
more distant past. About 74,000 years
ago, for instance, a supervolcano called Toba on the Indonesian island of
Sumatra exploded with such force that it imperiled the very existence of the
human race. The eruption spewed nearly 3,000 cubic kilometers of ash and rock
debris into the atmosphere — about a hundred times as much as Krakatoa or
Santorini, and ten times more than the biggest explosion of our direct
knowledge: the 1815 blast at Tambora, east Java. Pyroclastic flows from Toba
covered some 20,000 square kilometers, and megatons of sulfuric acid were spewed
into the air.1 The ash fall was so heavy that it must have wiped out much of
the vegetation in southeast Asia. Temperatures plunged up to 20 degrees (F.) over
much of the world and did not recover for at least six years — the ultimate “nuclear
winter.” Some investigators believe the cataclysm may have reduced humanity to
no more than several thousand souls, worldwide. Toba left a crater (caldera)
100 km. long and about 40 km. wide.
Such
supervolcano eruptions are far more frequent than catastrophic comet and meteor
impacts from space. So it’s hotter now than it has been in 50,000 years or
more. Perhaps the figure is more like 74,000 years, when the Lake Toba
supervolcano spewed ash into the atmosphere, which made the air unbreathable,
blocked the Sun’s light and heat, led to an ice age, and decimated humanity. Armageddon
refers to the great, consuming war to be fought among the peoples of the Earth.
Apocalypse is the natural/supernatural
cataclysm expected to come after Armageddon. I am opposed to all of it, no
matter how “enlightened” the aftermath will supposedly be. (If it all turns out
to have been worth it, then I will crawl out of my earthen bunker and admit my
mistake.) Now, trying to oppose global catastrophes such as supervolcano
eruptions or comet impacts would seem about as effective as trying to oppose
the law of gravity. But Armageddon is different. Of all the potential
cataclysms, Armageddon is the only one for which significant numbers of
Muslims, Christians, and Jews actually hope, pray, and scheme. And it’s the one
endtimes prophecy that we actually might have the power to prevent, or fulfill.
LIST OF MASS ERUPTION
- Lake Taupo, Taupo Volcanic Zone, North Island, New Zealand—Oruanui eruption ~26,500 years ago (~1,170 km³)
- Lake Toba, Sumatra, Indonesia—~74,000 years ago (~2,800 km³)
Whakamaru, Taupo Volcanic Zone, North Island, New
Zealand—Whakamaru Ignimbrite/Mount Curl Tephra ~254,000 years ago
(1,200–2,000 km³) Yellowstone Caldera, Lava Creek Tuff, Wyoming, United States, Yellowstone hotspot—640,000
years ago (1,000 km³)]
- Island Park Caldera, Huckleberry Ridge Tuff, Idaho/Wyoming, United States, Yellowstone hotspot—2.1
million years ago (2,500 km³)
- Cerro Galan, Catamarca Province, Argentina—2.5 million years ago (1,050 km³) Atana
Ignimbrite, Pacana Caldera, northern
Chile—4 million years ago (2,500 km³)
- Heise
volcanic field, Kilgore Tuff, Idaho, United States, Yellowstone hotspot—4.5
million years ago (1,800 km³).
- Heise
volcanic field, Blacktail Tuff, Idaho, United States, Yellowstone hotspot—6.6
million years ago (1,500 km³).
- La Garita Caldera, Colorado, United States—Source of the enormous eruption of the
Fish Canyon Tuff ~27.8 million years ago (~5,000 km³)
The Lake Toba eruption plunged
the Earth into a volcanic winter,
eradicating an estimated 60% of the human population (although humans
managed to survive even in the vicinity of the volcano).
Hidden deep beneath the
Earth's surface lie one of the most destructive and yet least-understood
natural phenomena in the world - supervolcanoes. Only a handful exist in the
world but when one erupts it will be unlike any volcano we have ever witnessed.
The explosion will be heard around the world. The sky will darken, black rain
will fall, and the Earth will be plunged into the equivalent of a nuclear
winter.
Normal
volcanoes are formed by a column of magma - molten rock - rising from deep
within the Earth, erupting on the surface, and hardening in layers down the
sides. This forms the familiar cone shaped mountain we associate with
volcanoes. Supervolcanoes, however, begin life when magma rises from the mantle
to create a boiling reservoir in the Earth's crust. This chamber increases to
an enormous size, building up colossal pressure until it finally erupts.
Supervolcanoes are far
more powerful than conventional volcanoes. By definition, they measure 8 on the
volcanic explosivity index (VEI), which runs from 1 to 8. Like the Richter
scale for earthquakes, VEI is logarithmic, meaning that each number indicates a
blast ten times greater than the preceding number. Mount St. Helens, considered
a large blast, was a VEI 5.
Other
supervolcanoes around the world include Kikai Caldera in Ryukyu Islands, Japan;
Long Valley Caldera, California; La Garita Caldera, Colorado; and Camp Flegrei,
Campania, Italy. A supervolcano blast at Lake Taupo, New Zealand (image right), in the year
186 ce, devastated New Zealand’s northern island. Compared to a Yellowstone,
however, the Lake Taupo eruption would be but a puff of steam.
To
understand how supervolcanoes work, imagine a blazing abscess moving and
growing under your skin, suffusing the flesh below with fiery pus. In
geological terms, this abscess is known as a hot spot, and the Earth’s skin, or
crust, is moving over it. In Windows into the Earth, Robert Smith and his
cowriter, Lee. J. Siegel, former science editor of the Salt Lake Tribune, explain that most hot spots are “columns or plumes of hot and molten rock that begin
1,800 miles underground at the boundary between Earth’s core and lower mantle,
then flow slowly upward [because heat rises] through the entire mantle and
crust.”
Meanwhile, the recent discovery of
the supervolcano phenomenon shows that volcanic eruptions can be hundreds of
times more destructive than anything recorded in our history books. Do these
new realizations harbor implications about the mysterious olden legends of
Atlantis?
The brief tick of recorded history
gives only a hint of the catastrophes sometimes visited upon our small azure
planet. We now know that bolides from space have at times struck with such
impact that many or most species on the earth have been obliterated. There is
another threat, equally great but less widely known, which we have only lately
begun to comprehend — what are termed “supervolcanoes.”
Occupying thousands of square miles,
these dwarf anything in our history books. Disasters such as Krakatoa, Tambora,
Pelee and Santorini are mere sneezes compared to some colossal eruptions of the
more distant past. About 74,000 years
ago, for instance, a supervolcano called Toba on the Indonesian island of
Sumatra exploded with such force that it imperiled the very existence of the
human race. The eruption spewed nearly 3,000 cubic kilometers of ash and rock
debris into the atmosphere — about a hundred times as much as Krakatoa or
Santorini, and ten times more than the biggest explosion of our direct
knowledge: the 1815 blast at Tambora, east Java. Pyroclastic flows from Toba
covered some 20,000 square kilometers, and megatons of sulfuric acid were spewed
into the air.1 The ash fall was so heavy that it must have wiped out much of
the vegetation in southeast Asia. Temperatures plunged up to 20 degrees (F.) over
much of the world and did not recover for at least six years — the ultimate “nuclear
winter.” Some investigators believe the cataclysm may have reduced humanity to
no more than several thousand souls, worldwide. Toba left a crater (caldera)
100 km. long and about 40 km. wide.
Such
supervolcano eruptions are far more frequent than catastrophic comet and meteor
impacts from space. So it’s hotter now than it has been in 50,000 years or
more. Perhaps the figure is more like 74,000 years, when the Lake Toba
supervolcano spewed ash into the atmosphere, which made the air unbreathable,
blocked the Sun’s light and heat, led to an ice age, and decimated humanity. Armageddon
refers to the great, consuming war to be fought among the peoples of the Earth.
Apocalypse is the natural/supernatural
cataclysm expected to come after Armageddon. I am opposed to all of it, no
matter how “enlightened” the aftermath will supposedly be. (If it all turns out
to have been worth it, then I will crawl out of my earthen bunker and admit my
mistake.) Now, trying to oppose global catastrophes such as supervolcano
eruptions or comet impacts would seem about as effective as trying to oppose
the law of gravity. But Armageddon is different. Of all the potential
cataclysms, Armageddon is the only one for which significant numbers of
Muslims, Christians, and Jews actually hope, pray, and scheme. And it’s the one
endtimes prophecy that we actually might have the power to prevent, or fulfill.
LIST OF MASS ERUPTION
- Lake Taupo, Taupo Volcanic Zone, North Island, New Zealand—Oruanui eruption ~26,500 years ago (~1,170 km³)
- Lake Toba, Sumatra, Indonesia—~74,000 years ago (~2,800 km³)
Whakamaru, Taupo Volcanic Zone, North Island, New
Zealand—Whakamaru Ignimbrite/Mount Curl Tephra ~254,000 years ago
(1,200–2,000 km³) Yellowstone Caldera, Lava Creek Tuff, Wyoming, United States, Yellowstone hotspot—640,000
years ago (1,000 km³)]
- Island Park Caldera, Huckleberry Ridge Tuff, Idaho/Wyoming, United States, Yellowstone hotspot—2.1 million years ago (2,500 km³)
- Cerro Galan, Catamarca Province, Argentina—2.5 million years ago (1,050 km³) Atana Ignimbrite, Pacana Caldera, northern Chile—4 million years ago (2,500 km³)
- Heise volcanic field, Kilgore Tuff, Idaho, United States, Yellowstone hotspot—4.5 million years ago (1,800 km³).
- Heise volcanic field, Blacktail Tuff, Idaho, United States, Yellowstone hotspot—6.6 million years ago (1,500 km³).
- La Garita Caldera, Colorado, United States—Source of the enormous eruption of the Fish Canyon Tuff ~27.8 million years ago (~5,000 km³)
The Lake Toba eruption plunged
the Earth into a volcanic winter,
eradicating an estimated 60% of the human population (although humans
managed to survive even in the vicinity of the volcano).
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