Disaster Strikes - Super Killer volcanoes
- 6 years ago
Follows a team of volcano sleuths as they embark on a worldwide hunt for an elusive volcanic mega-eruption that plunged the medieval earth into a deep freeze. The mystery begins when archaeologists find a hastily dug mass grave of 4,000 men, women, and children in London. At first they assume it's a plague pit from the Black Death, but when they date the bones, they're a century too early. So what killed off these families? The chronicles of that time describe a run of wild weather that devastated crops and spread famine across Europe. Expert team looks for the signature of a volcanic eruption big enough to have blasted a huge cloud of ash and sulfuric acid into the atmosphere, which chilled the entire planet. From Greenland to Antarctica, the team finds telltale "fingerprints" in ice and soil layers until, finally, they narrow down the culprit to a smoldering crater on a remote Indonesian island. Nearly 750 years ago, this volcano's colossal explosion shot a million tons of rock and ash into the atmosphere. Across the globe, it turned summer into winter. What would happen if another such cataclysm struck again today?
What is a Supervolcano?
A volcano which erupts and throws magma and rocky particles over an area greater than 240 cubic miles (1000 cubic kilometers) is considered a supervolcano. These massive eruptions dwarf typical volcanic eruptions. It is like comparing a small shock from static electricity to a lightning bolt: Mount Vesuvius produced 100,000 cubic yards of magma per second during its massive explosion in A.D. 79. The damage from this "ordinary" volcano was legendary. If Mount Vesuvius had been a supervolcano, it would have produced 100 million cubic yards of magma per second.
Yellowstone National Park is a famous supervolcano. The last time Yellowstone erupted, 640,000 years ago, the ash blanketed an area from California to Minnesota. If Yellowstone were to erupt again, the ash would be thick enough to collapse roofs on houses in neighboring states. The loss of life would be massive: Tens of thousands of people would die from the immediate eruption and pyroclastic (lava) flow. Respiratory difficulty caused by ash in the air would kill still more people. Supervolcanoes also affect global temperature in an immediate and profound way: when Mount Tambora blew its lid in 1815, the subsequent year was called "eighteen hundred and froze to death," or "the year without summer." This event occurred during an era dubbed the "Little Ice Age," which was a period of global cooling that extended from approximately 1350-1850. Scientists have not come to a consensus of dates with regard to the Little Ice Age, and NASA currently states the event occurred between 1550-1880, with three distinct periods of cooling. The volcanic winter created by Tambora exacerbated the cooling trend for the next year.
As supervolcanoes go, Tambora was a big. The Volcanic Explosion Index (VEI) rates volcanic activity on a scale from 0-8. Hawaii's Mount Kilauea
What is a Supervolcano?
A volcano which erupts and throws magma and rocky particles over an area greater than 240 cubic miles (1000 cubic kilometers) is considered a supervolcano. These massive eruptions dwarf typical volcanic eruptions. It is like comparing a small shock from static electricity to a lightning bolt: Mount Vesuvius produced 100,000 cubic yards of magma per second during its massive explosion in A.D. 79. The damage from this "ordinary" volcano was legendary. If Mount Vesuvius had been a supervolcano, it would have produced 100 million cubic yards of magma per second.
Yellowstone National Park is a famous supervolcano. The last time Yellowstone erupted, 640,000 years ago, the ash blanketed an area from California to Minnesota. If Yellowstone were to erupt again, the ash would be thick enough to collapse roofs on houses in neighboring states. The loss of life would be massive: Tens of thousands of people would die from the immediate eruption and pyroclastic (lava) flow. Respiratory difficulty caused by ash in the air would kill still more people. Supervolcanoes also affect global temperature in an immediate and profound way: when Mount Tambora blew its lid in 1815, the subsequent year was called "eighteen hundred and froze to death," or "the year without summer." This event occurred during an era dubbed the "Little Ice Age," which was a period of global cooling that extended from approximately 1350-1850. Scientists have not come to a consensus of dates with regard to the Little Ice Age, and NASA currently states the event occurred between 1550-1880, with three distinct periods of cooling. The volcanic winter created by Tambora exacerbated the cooling trend for the next year.
As supervolcanoes go, Tambora was a big. The Volcanic Explosion Index (VEI) rates volcanic activity on a scale from 0-8. Hawaii's Mount Kilauea