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Can you drill into a supervolcano to relieve pressure? (2016)

askageologist.blogspot.com

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Re: Can you drill into a supervolcano to relieve pressure? (2016)

#91

Post by sib »

hilbert42 wrote: post #78

"People who think a nuclear device is comparable to the energy released by a volcano just haven't seen a restless volcano up close. They are a whole lot bigger than they seem to be in the films. Mount St Helens is a relatively small volcano, yet it still took me nearly 6 hours to walk out of the center crater." I can well attest to that. A year or so after the major eruption of Mount St. Helens on May 18, 1980, I had…

That sounds amazing!

I hiked up to the rim of MSH a couple decades ago, but didn't go down into it. I can attest that it's pretty big in there. And the sight of the giant blown-down trees for miles around is incredible.

Re: Can you drill into a supervolcano to relieve pressure? (2016)

#92

Post by javajosh »

intpx wrote: post #52
ethbr0 wrote: post #45

My favorite National Park Service quip of all time. At the bottom of the page on Yellowstone's volcano [0] are a few questions and answers, and among them this gem: >> What is Yellowstone National Park doing to stop or prevent an erruption? > Nothing can be done to prevent an eruption. The temperatures, pressures, physical characteristics of partially molten rock, and immensity of the magma chamber are beyond human a…

This is a very clear distillation of the absolute lack of imagination that is endemic across the National Parks Service. It is this mindset that stagnating progress in the National Parks. 105 years and there have been no major developments in Parks technologies. No waterfalls running in reverse, no water-skiing bison, no Grander Canyon. /s

When I visited Yellowstone, the only thing I wanted, literally the only thing, was for an enormous eagle to fly down and attack a bear, and then for both to fall into a hot/acid pool with a cry and dissolve. Is that too much to ask? What are my tax dollars being used for anyway?!

Re: Can you drill into a supervolcano to relieve pressure? (2016)

#93

Post by ethbr0 »

ceocoder wrote: post #88
intpx wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a very clear distillation of the absolute lack of imagination that is endemic across the National Parks Service. It is this mindset that stagnating progress in the National Parks. 105 years and there have been no major developments in Parks technologies. No waterfalls running in reverse, no water-skiing bison, no Grander Canyon. /s

You really had me until the very end, I even had a “parks don’t need disrupting” speech planned

Bison move surprisingly quickly and are very good at breaking things.

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/wr/mm6511a5.htm

Re: Can you drill into a supervolcano to relieve pressure? (2016)

#94

Post by syngrog66 »

MisterTea wrote: post #27
beerandt wrote: post #24

With volcanos, the more viscous the magma, the more energy gets stored before an eruption. Supervolcanos are the most viscous type, hence the massive explosion. Think boiling water vs thick oatmeal vs boiling a pressure cooker until it explodes, but obviously worse. So "relieve pressure" in this case isn't like a pressure release valve on a water heater. You'd need to either cool the mass, remove the overburden, or c…

> The US nuclear test done in Mississippi resulted in vaporizing the rock and soil and creating a large underground void, for whatever that's worth as a sort of proof of concept. Where did the vaporized rock and soil go?

Alabama

Re: Can you drill into a supervolcano to relieve pressure? (2016)

#95

Post by [deleted] »

ethbr0 wrote: post #93
ceocoder wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You really had me until the very end, I even had a “parks don’t need disrupting” speech planned

Bison move surprisingly quickly and are very good at breaking things. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/wr/mm6511a5.htm

[deleted]

Re: Can you drill into a supervolcano to relieve pressure? (2016)

#96

Post by techdragon »

MisterTea wrote: post #27
beerandt wrote: post #24

With volcanos, the more viscous the magma, the more energy gets stored before an eruption. Supervolcanos are the most viscous type, hence the massive explosion. Think boiling water vs thick oatmeal vs boiling a pressure cooker until it explodes, but obviously worse. So "relieve pressure" in this case isn't like a pressure release valve on a water heater. You'd need to either cool the mass, remove the overburden, or c…

> The US nuclear test done in Mississippi resulted in vaporizing the rock and soil and creating a large underground void, for whatever that's worth as a sort of proof of concept. Where did the vaporized rock and soil go?

Forced into the surroundings making them more dense than the surrounding rock and soil.

Re: Can you drill into a supervolcano to relieve pressure? (2016)

#97

Post by techdragon »

dragonwriter wrote: post #69
ineedasername wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, the US had a program called "Project Plowshares" dedicated to their use in, primarily, construction: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Plowshare

The quiet-part-out-loudness of naming a project designed as a propaganda measure to leverage peaceful applications of nuclear technology (including explosions) to build acceptance of (/ mitigate opposition to) nuclear weaponry qua weaponry so as to invoke Joel 3:9-10 (“Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: / Beat your plowshares i…

Neat, now I have a counter quote for “swords into ploughshares”

Re: Can you drill into a supervolcano to relieve pressure? (2016)

#98

Post by Robotbeat »

ethbr0 wrote: post #45

My favorite National Park Service quip of all time. At the bottom of the page on Yellowstone's volcano [0] are a few questions and answers, and among them this gem: >> What is Yellowstone National Park doing to stop or prevent an erruption? > Nothing can be done to prevent an eruption. The temperatures, pressures, physical characteristics of partially molten rock, and immensity of the magma chamber are beyond human a…

Sounds like a challenge! (Seriously, I think Yellowstone is protected from geothermal power development precisely BECAUSE it could impact it.)

Re: Can you drill into a supervolcano to relieve pressure? (2016)

#99

Post by Bolkan »

hilbert42 wrote: post #78

"People who think a nuclear device is comparable to the energy released by a volcano just haven't seen a restless volcano up close. They are a whole lot bigger than they seem to be in the films. Mount St Helens is a relatively small volcano, yet it still took me nearly 6 hours to walk out of the center crater." I can well attest to that. A year or so after the major eruption of Mount St. Helens on May 18, 1980, I had…

Nukes tiny on the geological scale:

https://youtu.be/hSjratvNGmo

Re: Can you drill into a supervolcano to relieve pressure? (2016)

#100

Post by gonzo41 »

jjk166 wrote: post #12

[0] https://scienceandtechnology.jpl.nasa.gov/sites/default/file... You wouldn't want to drill into the magma chamber to relieve pressure, instead you would drill next to the magma chamber to cool the rocks on the edge, shrinking the chamber. Every few decades after the chamber had shrunk, you'd drill a new set of boreholes closer. The expense would be substantial, but well within the range of major government projec…

And if you make a mistake....or cause an earthquake things could very quickly get away from you.
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