I've wondered, if a supervolcano were "primed" as you discuss, or even just sitting there with a big magma chamber, would it be possible to trigger it with a large nuclear weapon?
A multi-megaton nuclear explosion is on the same order of energy release as a mag 6 earthquake, maybe mag 7 for yields in the range of dozens of megatons.
What if I set off one of those in a fault zone over a supervolcano magma chamber?
Heck, how about I set off a series of 5 MT bombs at 1km depth intervals from the ground down to just overthe chamber -- punch out a hole. What happens? Seems like "kaboom" is at least a plausible effect. With several thousand warheads in the 100kT - several MT range, seems like trigger Yellowstone or another charged-up resurgent caldera is a pretty doable project were someone so inclined.
Now, unless you want to see your pretty little planet covered with ash, fumes, and glaciers, you have 72 hours to deliver to my underground lair the sum of....
.... one MILLION dollars!
Space/Science » in reply to Yes.
Evil plan -- trigger a supervolcano?
The whole thread (41 posts)
- Is Yellowstone going to blow? The Supervolcano is rumbling. And the Grand Tetons are sinking.
- Link to Yellowstone Volcano Observatory:
- re: Bowser may be right
- I hope so...And soon.
- Yes.
- "As seen on TV"
- Yep, saw it
- A supervolcanic eruption is almost certain sometime in the future
- "probably"??
- No....
- RL got me thinking (I know, a bad thing)
- ME getting you thinking is a BAD thing?
- Drilling can have unexpected results....
- maybe not such a good idea
- Yeah,,, What happens to use when we start forcing CO2 emmitting corporations into sequestering CO2 in underground caverns?
- A great excuse for unrestricted logging in the Park.
- "probably"??