Re: Rigging a Volcano

From: Jo Schaper (joschapern4ospam_at_2socketdot.no5net)
Date: 07/03/04 

Date: Sat, 03 Jul 2004 18:21:25 -0500

(I am not an expert on this--however there are geos who have spent their
whole lives on the YNP geothermal system. I suspect many would laugh at
this discussion, even as a hypothetical.)

> Mike1 wrote:
>

>>There's not going to be any "lava" from Yellowstone any more than there
>>was at Pinatubo. Finding a place to put all the ash would be a major
>>logistics problem. Simply letting it pile up loose is no good, unless
>>you want the entire Missouri River watershed downstream turned into a
>>lahar zone.

Stuff and nonsense. There are enormous basalt flows at Yellowstone, and
basalt flows which extend back along the Snake River Plain. The Grand
Canyon of the Yellowstone is yellow rhyolite. Although you (addressed
collectively to all who think they can 'manage' Yellowstone to prevent
an eruption) might successfuly argue that rhyolite is 'ash' and not
lava, it still forms pyroclastic flows up to hundreds of feet thick when
great amounts are liberated. It does not "pile up loose", but heat
welds as it cools, and follows gravity flow in where it settles. Also,
often enough even now, the 'pipes' which feed the geysers are
self-sealing with silica--a situation which occasionally causes geysers
to explode. If these natural pipes clog, so would any artificial ones.
Have you examined the subsurface temperatures beneath Yellowstone,
hi-temp technology, and compared them to the temperatures of even
something as elementary as the Bowen's reaction series? You'd better
go study up on Yellowstone geology before you propose messing with it.

Anyway, what makes you think the USGS would let folks get away with
this? There is already precedent on development which might effect steam
pressures at YNP. Again, you need to do some studying up at a USGS
repository library. You can start with

Sorey, M. L., E. M. Colvard, et al. (1991). Hydrologic investigations in
the Corwin Springs Known Geothermal Resources Area and adjacent parts of
Yellowstone National Park. Effects of potential geothermal development
in the Corwin Springs Known Geothermal Resources Area, Montana, on the
thermal features of Yellowstone National Park. U. S. Geological
Survey.: G1-G41 WRI 91-4052.

> Friedman, I. (1994). "Effect of potential geothermal development on
> the thermal features of Yellowstone National
> Park; Part 1, Perspective 3; Possible effect of nearby geothermal
> development on Yellowstone National Park." GSA Today 4(12): 297-299.

> Molnia, B. F. (1994). "Effects of potential geothermal development on
the thermal features of Yellowstone National Park; Part 1, Perspective
1, Introduction." GSA Today 4(12): 291, 296.

> Friedman, I. (1995). "Effects of potential geothermal development on
> the thermal features of Yellowstone National Park; Part 2,
> Perspective 5, Rebuttal to Sorey et al." GSA Today 5(1): 21.
        
Sorey, M. L., W. C. Evans, et al. (1995). "Effects of potential
geothermal development on the thermal features of Yellowstone National
Park; Part 2, Perspective 4; Rebuttal to Friedman." GSA Today 5(1): 3, 21.
        Sorey, M. L., Y. K. Kharaka, et al. (1994). "Effects of potential
geothermal development on the thermal features of Yellowstone National
Park; Part 1, Perspective 2; The U.S. Geological Survey study." GSA
Today 4(12): 296-297

Re Halliburton getting the 'remediation' contract--remember also that
Cheney is from Wyoming, and likes to hunt there. Probably wouldn't take
kindly to a 'controlled eruption' destroying his state, nor would the
powers in the state who control the very powerful tourism industry.

There is a difference between prudent preparation, doing what one
reasonably can to ensure human safety and messing with the geo-gods. The
geo-gods (forces of nature) tend to get the last laugh on engineers any
time they please. Ask people in the 'unsinkable' Mississippi-Missouri
River basin floodplains, who all stayed high and dry in 1993. (Rolls
eyes upward and giggles every time she hears "it will never flood again,
there," from an engineer.)

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