Any geologists in the group here?

[Ichneumon]

I read this thread quite a while ago and forgot I fired off an email to one of my brothers who is a geologist with the US parks service.

This was his response:

Yep, it is [real]. The cyclic explosions do happen every 600,000 years, and our time is running near. The ashfalls from these explosions can be found inches thick as far away as Texas. They're huge explosions, and if one occurs (called rhyolitic caldera explosions) it's likely to cause monumental changes to the planet, especially climate.

However, is an explosion imminent? Who knows? This article is a little to alarmist, but it is based on facts. Strange stuff happens at Yellowstone all the time, dead trees, dead fish, sulphur smells. Come on, it's a place with boiling mud pots and geysers. How many of those places exist on the planet?

My advice: We'll never know when it'll happen, whether tomorrow or a
million years from now. But an explosion will happen. Just don't buy
property near Yellowstone.

 

[pax]

Interesting thanks... I was really wondering about how far the science of volcano prediction had come to... I know its hard to forecast more than a few days ahead for regular volcanoes but wondered if calderas had more predictable behavior.

Gonna keep an eye on this one for sure ...