Science

Thar She (someday) Blows!

50 Comments

It’s not new to hear that Yellowstone National Park is a giant super-volcano, but new research adds some detail to what we know about the plumbing underneath.

It turns out there’s a reservoir of very hot and molten rock sitting ten to thirty miles below the surface, warmed from beneath by a scary plume of nasty Earth’s-core-grade magma.

Here’s my favorite line from the Washington Post article – “This is a volcano that can erupt either in a big way or a truly colossal and catastrophic way.”

It’s nice to know we have choices.

One gets the impression that were this baby to blow, it would have an effect everywhere and you could count on a level of personal inconvenience well beyond having to some wash dust off the windows.

But on the global disaster hand-wringing scale it’s hard to know how freaked out to be about this, since humans haven’t been around long enough to have witnessed the last Yellowstone eruption. Is it more or less troublesome than a meteor strike?

Or what if a rogue comet scored a direct hit on Earth with the point of impact right on top of the Yellowstone caldera? I know the odds are against it, which is why that disaster movie is probably already in production.

Oh for the innocent 1950’s, when the Earth’s center was filled with giant lizards and mushroom forests.

What’s your favorite disaster movie?

50 thoughts on “Thar She (someday) Blows!”

  1. Just a teensy quibble. I don’t think we have a choice as such. Just possibilities.

    I’m not keen on disaster movies myself (I’m paranoid enough, thanks), so I checked with the s&h.

    He says anything with Gamera every time.

    Can’t argue with that. Nuclear disaster barely avoided through the efforts of a giant flying prehistoric turtle and plucky Japanese schoolchildren? Great formula.

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  2. The three The Hobbit movies come to mind, but since like Ms. Madeline Island I don’t go to disaster moives, I did not see the last one.

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    1. I think you might be a little dyslexic on this one, Clyde.

      The question was about disaster movies, not movie disasters.

      (for the record, we saw all three – last two at the Riverview, I like their popcorn and the fact that I can have a nice big glass of red across the street beforehand. What can I say, I love to look at the costumes).

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      1. you can have a nice big glass of red in the theater if you bring a screw top mason jar with you to the movie. those 5 dollar specials on pinot noir or a cab at trader joes are hard to beat.

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        2. chuck is intentionally ho hum. not offensive but never good (austrialian chardonay may have been the exception) but their 5 buck options are really nice. something with a moon in the name and there are enough to try to keep you going back to try a known liked one and two or three new trails for a long test period.
          i dont know why i feel differently about trader joes than i do about total wine but i hate total wine entering the market like wal mart and putting all the little guys out of business. but they sure do have wionderful selections on cheap wines and booze inn general (cigars too for that matter) maso jar and a bucket of popcorn … we should have mike pengra search the archives and see if theres something there

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        3. Life is too short and I am too much of a lightweight for ho hum wine out of a mason jar.

          Part of the enjoyment for me is the stemmed glass.

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    2. I haven’t brought myself to see any of the new Hobbit movies. Something about the fact that they felt the need to make a whole movie about Smaug, when it took up about 4 pages in the book!

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  3. i tend to go with the group on not being big disaster followers. i dint like the posidian adventure. black sunday by kurt vonnegut was a decent book but not much of a movie. men in black, alien. jaws, back to the day the earth stood still, farenheit451, i got to see inside llewyn davis the other day. it was distressing enough to be considered a disaster movie. oh oh… what was the movie where one disaster after another happened with time in the title.after hours a martin scoursese film is a wonderful disaster film. a favorite.

    as for yellowstone i spent a lot of time there whne my kids were little. i had friends at the north entrance and we went every year for 10 years and hiked and camped and got the tours by the forest ranger of all the cool stuff they do ther. one of the best guided tours is whent the ranger is showing you in close circles on the littll geomap and he showed how 2 million years ago the volcano blew and 1.5 million years ago it blew again and moved over a little on the map and here is the outline of where the caldera was when the blast happened and the earth caved in for a 200 mile circel and the skies went black and all the animals died and 1 million years ago it blew here and 500 thousand years ago it blew again right heree and do you know when its due to blow again?………..RIGHT NOW!!!!! and the kids all jump and scream. its great.
    so the correct answer is it is due to blow in the next century or two and the sky will go black and the nimals will all die and the cell phone service will be screwed up for weeks. mankind will allvacation in europe and africa for a decade or two and the digging out up at the lake place will be simlilar to mt visouvious. thats a disaster movie documentary waiting to happen.
    i sure enjoy the hot pots ant the 49th parallel near gardner. i have a wedding ring at the bottom of the stream there. anybody ever going to yellowstone check in i will have a highlights list a few tricks to plug in.

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    1. tim, do a blog about it. We may be headed that way this summer to show the place to one of husband’s old friends from Denmark. I’ve been to Yellowstone a couple of times, and hit all the “hot spots,” if you will, but would love some of your frequent visitor info.

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      2. actually if you know when you are going and when you want to stay there 1 year in advance is the way to book your reservations.
        the old lodge at old faithful is wonderful if you are looking for old small picturesque and expensive. the cabins at mammoth hot springs are my personal favorite. the grand hotel at lake mary is wonderful the hotels at grandcanyon and the ski lodge replacement at old faithful are the ones with deluxe features but my preferrence is camping. the camping sites are rustic but have hot showers accessable and if you want to stay outside the park they are plentiful and very cool. in the park the one by west yellowstone is good the one by grand canyon and the one by lake mary is good but my favorite is the one that there is no reservation for. you need to be there the day of the stay. the earlier the better, get you site and stay there. til you leave. its between the mammoth hot springs and the west yellowstone portions of the park. if you are interested and considering this i will look up the real name of the site and help you be certain that is the place. so call today and book your room or your campsite if you can. they may be sold out already and likely are. if you want to drive in from outside do the park and leave we can talk about that too. there are four come and go directions and each is distinctive. beartooth pass is a must. livingston via gardner is wonderful (murray hotel) tetons in jackson hole is touristy but kept from being too much so and breathtaking is the word. so stop back for the figure 8 symposium but youd better book your rooms and accomadations now.

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  4. Good morning. The only movie about a natural disaster that I can remember is Twister staring Helen Hunt. I like Helen Hunt and thought that Twister was not the kind movie that fit her acting skills. I was a fairly good adventure movie, but not a very artist effort. I think it should be possible to make an outstanding film about a natural disaster. If one has been made, I haven’t seen it or don’t remember seeing it.

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    1. helen hunt like barbara streisand always surprise me by how pretty i think she is by the end of the movie. they dont strike me that way initally but something about their screen presence is attacting and alluring.

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  6. I’m gonna have to cheat today. I never saw a disaster film that was worth a bucket of popcorn, so I’ll slide to a Monster film that I love. Tremors (the original one) is one of the funniest films I’ve ever seen. It has great dialogue, including lines like:

    “Damn it Valentine, you never plan ahead, you never take the long view, I mean here it is Monday and I’m already thinking of Wednesday… It is Monday right?”

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      2. Pretension is Hollywood. I’ll suggest a non-pretentious and very human movie “The Station Agent.” Peter Dinklage is arresting in this movie.A good portrayal of drepression and friendship. I have been seeking out those little unpretentious indie movies. Lots out there.
        I am thinking of doping a guest blog about a new book that really irritates me. And an old book that does for the same reason.

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        2. i was thinking we should add a baboon list of books movies tv shows stuff to see and do just cuz. you dont have to do it you dont have to agree but if youre stuck and looking for a suggestion it would be a nice resource.

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  9. As I referenced above, I’m a fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000, which teased a number of monster/horror/disaster films over the years of the show. While they intentionally steered clear of movies generally perceived to be classics like Journey to the Center of the Earth, they did take on this one:

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    1. Channel 2 had been running MST on Saturdays at ten, which seems weird, except for the Cities connection. Wondering if they will start it back up.

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  10. I’m not even sure what constitutes a disaster movie, but I’m certain I’ve seen some movies that I’d consider disasters. I’d consider films such as Planet of the Apes, On the Beach, and Dr. Strangelove disaster movies. Ishtar comes to mind as a prime example of a movie that’s a disaster.

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  12. This one’s easy: On the Beach. Gregory Peck, I think. Watching these parents administering a fatal dose of poison to their children rather than have them face certain radiation poisoning was gripping.

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  13. I’m feeling at home w/ my troop – I’m also not a disaster movie fan. I haven’t even seen a lot of the most well-known ones.

    I binge-watched every episode of Firefly this past week (had it from the library) and every episode felt a little like a disaster movie!

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